Alone
by NiceGodzilla
Summary: When everyone over the age of 14 vanishes without a trace, A boy named Lincoln and several other kids have to take it upon themselves to look after each other and try to keep society going. But that's easier said than done. Loud House AU where none of the siblings are related and it takes place in Indianapolis, Indiana.
1. Gone

**Those of you who've read _The Lost_ may remember me saying something in chapter ten's author's note about a Loud House AU where all the siblings are the same age: 14. Only they're not related (except Lana and Lola). Well, this story is kind of based on that idea. Only instead of all the adults going crazy, they simply disappear.**

 **That's the premise of this story. Everyone over the age of 14 has vanished without a trace. So Lincoln and the rest of the kids are going to have to look after themselves and try to rebuild society.**

* * *

 **Alone**

 **Chapter 1: Gone**

* * *

 **PROLOGUE**

 _Fifteen years ago._

Thomas and Marie Miller had completed working on a device, a device that could open portals to other dimensions. They were part of a top-secret operation.

Code name: Hole.

The man and woman were both brilliant scientists, and they wanted to push the boundaries of science by opening gateways to other worlds.

Worlds that could contain greater knowledge than the one they resided on now. Two worlds were better than one.

The machine was ready, if it worked, they'd go down in history as one of the most brilliant physicists of all time. And if it failed… they preferred not to think about it.

They made some final calibrations and prepared to start the machine.

"Are you ready, Marie?" Thomas asked his wife.

She nodded. "Yes."

The man pushed a button and the machine began to whir to life. Electricity began to flow to the tip of the machine that was pointed towards a brick wall that had been placed in the large room that they resided in.

The machine shot a beam at the wall and a bright flash caused the whole room to lite up as if one thousand suns were shining down on it. The flash dimmed in a microsecond and the two scientists felt something travel through their entire bodies.

And then… nothing.

No portal- just silence.

They tried desperately to get the machine to start again, but it wouldn't.

They'd spent millions of dollars and thousands of hours to try to make contact with another dimension, but in the end- it was all for naught.

Eventually operation Hole was abandoned, and the two scientists had a baby and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana. Getting a job at a pharmaceutical company. They may have been physicists, but they were also into the study of medicine. If they couldn't discover life- then they'd try to make life better.

Unbeknownst to them, they'd change the lives of everyone.

* * *

 **DAY 1.**

 **August 8th**

Lincoln White woke up to the usual sound of his alarm clock going off at six o'clock a.m. After pressing the off button on the clock, he sat in silence for a few seconds. The only sound was the silent buzzing of his pedestal fan slowly moving its head from side to side at the end of his room. Sunlight shone through the blinds on his window, casting golden bars on the walls.

After a few more seconds Lincoln rose up and sat on his beds, his legs hanging off the side. The last thing he needed was to accidentally doze off again.

He got up, walked into the hall stripped off his clothes and began to take a shower. Washing his white hair, his most well know feature. Everyone thought it was funny that he had white hair and his last name was White.

Was it destiny or something? After all, his mom and grandpa had white hair, too.

After taking longer than he needed to. He turned off the shower faucet and got out, wrapping a towel around himself and walking through his hallway again. It was quiet, which wasn't unusual since it was just Lincoln and his mom. She must've gone to work. His mom was a dental assistant.

Soon, Lincoln dried off and got dressed. Electing to wear his usual outfit of an orange polo shirt, blue jeans and white Adidas shoes with red stripes.

He was about to reach for his backpack and leave his room when a staticky voice filled the room.

" _Lincoln. Come in Lincoln. Over."_

Lincoln looked to his dresser where there was a purple walkie-talkie resting on top of it. He recognized the voice that came from the device as none other than his best friend: Clyde McBride. The white-haired boy realized that the tone of his friend's voice sounded urgent, so he hurried up to the talkie and answered it.

"This is Lincoln. What's up? Over."

Clyde responded less than a second after Lincoln released his finger on the talk button.

" _Is your mom at your house?"_

That question struck Lincoln as odd. Why would Clyde want to know if his mom was home, did he need something from her?

Lincoln pressed the talk button, "No, I don't think so. Why? Over."

And then Clyde said something that filled Lincoln with trepidation.

" _Because my parents aren't home either, no one can find their parents or older siblings…over."_

Lincoln paused. "W-what do you mean?" he didn't even bother saying 'over.'

" _I don't know what I mean, man. Just that there doesn't seem to be any adults around…Over"_

Lincoln's arm dangled to his side as he suddenly hurried to his mom's room. Once inside the first thing he noticed was an indentation on her mattress, as if she'd just vanished as she lay in bed. Then he noticed that her purse was still on her night stand. He went through it and found her Driver's license, cell phone and other things she'd never leave at home.

He then went and looked out the window and saw her car still parked in the driveway. He stared at the car for several seconds and then slowly backed away from the window. It was very quiet in his house and outside as well. He could hear his heart beating faster and faster.

He then called out for his mom and ran through the entire house.

Nothing.

He then pressed down on his walkie-talkie again. "Clyde where are you at right now?"

Clyde told him that he was standing in front of his house and that there were several other kids wandering the streets. All of them wondering the same thing: Where was everyone?

Lincoln told him that he'd meet him there in a few minutes. Over and out.

As soon as Lincoln was done talking to Clyde, he went back to his room and got his iPhone. He decided to check his twitter feed to see if what was going on around his neighborhood was happening everywhere else. Unfortunately, the website didn't load. There was no internet. Lincoln then turned on his TV in the living room, but all the channels showed nothing but static. Lincoln wondered if the power would eventually shut off as well.

* * *

Soon, Lincoln was standing in his front yard looking all over the place. The houses in his neighborhood were so close together. He looked to his left, if he went that way he'd eventually reach a road that was called West Washington Street and then to his right where a petroleum factory resided at the end of the street. That's where he'd go first since it's was the direction Clyde's house was in.

As he walked he passed several kids who were wandering around aimlessly while some just stood around chatting nervously and checking their phones. Other kids just sat and sobbed. A small part of Lincoln wanted to sit and join them.

He wondered if this was all one big joke. Did everyone's parents plan this months ago? Did they sneak out in the middle of the night and hide. Were they all secretly watching their kids on monitors and laughing as they all began to freak out? No that couldn't be the case, that was beyond cruel.

The white-haired boy soon passed a car that had crashed into a pole, as if the driver just took their hands off the wheel and let the vehicle do its own thing.

That made Lincoln wonder; did all the adults suddenly vanish at once? And if so, would they ever reappear? What if they didn't? What if today was the start of a new era, and all the kids were going to have to fend for themselves from now on?

"Lincoln!" the white-haired boy heard someone shout.

He looked up and saw Clyde approaching, as well as a few other kids. An orange haired boy with freckles named Rusty who was holding his younger brother named Rocky's hand. Another boy whose orange-ish hair was style in a bowl cut named Liam. And a short, red-haired boy with glasses whose name was Zach. They all looked upset, worried and scared. Rusty's younger brother even looked like he'd just got done crying. Lincoln couldn't say that he blamed him.

Lincoln hurried over and met them halfway.

"I'm guessing your parents are all missing too?" Lincoln said to his other friends.

"Yeah," Rusty spoke first, his voice high-pitched and squeaky. "My brother woke up in the middle of the night because he had a nightmare and when he couldn't find our parents he woke me up. We've been up ever since.

"I can't find my ma or pa neither," Liam spoke now. He had a thick southern accent that he'd acquired from living in Texas before moving to Indiana a year ago.

"This is weird," Zach spoke now. "What the heck could've happened? People don't just disappear overnight…unless it has something to do with aliens.

Lincoln gulped when Zach said that. Normally Lincoln paid no attention to Zach and his conspiracy theories. But what if he was right for once?

So many people disappearing at once was so weird. So…alien.

"What are we gonna do?" Rusty said to no one in particular.

The six boys all looked at each other. No one said anything. There was no easy answer for any of this.

Lincoln then looked up at the morning sky. So crisp, clear and peaceful. A few feathery clouds here and there. No airplane contrails at all. Lincoln's mind then went back to the crashed car. What if airplane pilots suddenly disappeared too, and there were wrecked planes all over the world. And what about cars on the highways? There were probably tons of pileups.

Clyde began to hyperventilate.

"Clyde, are you okay?" Lincoln asked, which was a dumb question.

Clyde quickly took out his inhaler and pressed it to his mouth and puffed. Soon his breathing evened out.

As soon as he was done, he answered Lincoln's question. "No, man. I'm not okay. I don't think I'll ever be okay again."

A horrifying thought entered Lincoln's mind. His friend used his inhaler for medical reasons. What if it ran out? In fact, what if all the medicine his friend took ran out? Clyde was a kid with a lot of health problems.

Lincoln swore. "We need to do something."

"Like what?" Liam said, "We're just kids."

Lincoln looked around and studied all the kids who were wandering the street. Then something came to mind.

He turned back to his friends. "You're all fourteen-years-old, right?"

They all nodded, except for Rocky who was only eight.

"Have any of you seen anyone over the age of fourteen?"

They all looked at each other and then back at Lincoln. Shook their heads no.

Lincoln looked around again and then began to approach a small group of kids nearest to him who were clustered together in a circle trying to use their phones but to no avail. His friends followed close behind.

"Excuse me," he said to the kids who all seemed to be around his age. There were five of them.

They all looked at him with worried expressions and waited for Lincoln to say something.

"How old are all of you?"

The kids all exchanged slightly puzzled glances and then turned back to the white-haired boy.

"Why?" was all one of them said, a boy with brown hair and glasses.

"Because…" Lincoln paused, and they all continued to look at him weirdly. "…are any of you over the age of fourteen?"

They all looked at each other again and then turned their heads back to Lincoln at the same time.

"I don't think so," the boy with the glasses said.

Lincoln then looked back at his friends. They all had the same worried expression that Lincoln was positive rested on his face too.

The white-haired boy then went over to some more kids and asked them the same question and got the same response. After asking a few more kids Lincolns mind was pretty much made up. All the people who disappeared were over the age of fourteen.

"What does this mean?" Rusty said, one arm shrugged out, a hint of panic in his voice. It sounded like he was trying his best not to freak out while tears began to form in his younger brother's eyes again.

"Could mean a million things," Liam said, so casually, "or one really big thing."

"Like what?" Rusty said and he clenched his teeth, beads of sweat racing down his face, bracing himself for what Liam was about to say.

"God."

They all stared at him in silence as all around them kids talked, whimpered and cried.

"What do you mean by God?" Clyde asked.

"What if the Rapture happened," Liam continued. "What if something happened before we were born, and those who were alive when it happened were whisked up into heaven while us who weren't alive are doomed to stay here until Christ returns."

"That's ridiculous," Zach scoffed.

"Oh, and aliens aren't?"

Zach didn't respond, he just narrowed his eyes at Liam.

Lincoln's mind began to race; God, aliens, everyone over fourteen. This didn't make any sense. He closed his eyes and began to think of his mom. She had white hair as well, hair she'd got from her dad. Lincoln didn't know who his dad was, though. Apparently, his mom had had a one-night stand with some guy when she was nineteen and got pregnant with him. Lincoln didn't know the details surrounding that one-night stand, all he knew was that it happened shortly after she'd graduated high school and went to Florida one week for Spring Break. She wanted to be a dentist when she was younger but when Lincoln happened she had to settle for being a dental assistant. Which made Lincoln feel a little bit guilty even though it wasn't his fault in the slightest.

So now, here Lincoln was, fourteen years later standing in the middle of a street surrounded by other kids who were just here, now… forever.

"Lincoln?" Clyde said and put a hand on Lincoln's shoulder which kind of made him jump.

"Huh?"

"What should we do?"

Lincoln's friends all looked at him as if he had all the answers. Sure, he liked to boast sometimes and call himself the Man with the Plan, but that was just when it came to trivial stuff, like video games or getting out of gym class.

"I don't…" Lincoln paused and continued to look around eventually setting his sights on one direction. He couldn't see past the houses and trees, but he knew what was in the direction he was looking at-Downtown Indianapolis.

He looked back at his friends. "I say we go back to our houses and pack some things, take as much food and water as you can carry and anything else you can't part with."

"Why?" Rusty asked. "Are we going somewhere?"

Lincoln nodded.

"Where?" Clyde asked.

"Where going downtown," Lincoln said.

* * *

 _I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I really wanted it to be longer but the reason it's so short is because I just wanted to establish the basic premise and so you could all see that this is a story that I'm working on. I don't know how long this story will be as I have no ending planned, but I want it to last a long time. My goal is for there to be over 100 chapters, but I won't get too ahead of myself as I still have other stories that I need to finish._


	2. Going Downtown

**Alone**

 **Chapter 2: Going Downtown**

* * *

Lincoln Loud stood back on the street of his neighborhood. It was now around eight-thirty in the morning and the sun was still rising in the sky, slowly making the day warmer, luckily it wasn't too humid. Lincoln hated humidity more than heat. He'd rather it be one-hundred degrees and zero humidity than eighty degrees and high humidity. Which was why if he could live anywhere else in the United States, it would be Phoenix, Arizona.

Even so, Lincoln was still sweating. He wiped his forehead with the palm of his hand and waited as his friends continued to pack their things. Lincoln was already done because he didn't really have a lot of things worth taking with him: he just packed some food, water, clothes, a picture of his mom and a stuffed rabbit plush he called bun-bun. He'd had it since he was born. It's even in the oldest known picture of him.

As he waited several kids walked past him, a lot of them still talking to each other a mile a minute. Going on about what they were going to do and who was going to take care of them now.

Lincoln thought to himself: who was going to take care of them now? They were all just kids, none of them were over the age of fifteen, and what was going to happen once they _did_ turn fifteen? Were they going to disappear as well? It was currently August eighth, and Lincoln's birthday was October second. Which meant he probably had less than two months before he disappeared.

He shook his head and told himself that he was being ridiculous. Then again… everyone fifteen and older disappearing all at once was also ridiculous.

He'd have to find someone who'd be turning fifteen, like, tomorrow or something and see what happens. If they'd disappear too.

Soon, Lincolns friends were all done packing their things as well. Lincoln noticed that Clyde had packed the most out of all of them, they all had backpacks while he was lugging a suitcase.

"Clyde, what do you have in there?" Lincoln asked his best friend.

"Oh, nothing," his friend said. "Just some clothes, my white noise machine, my humidifier and dehumidifier, inhaler and allergy medication."

Lincoln gave his friend a puzzled expression. "I don't think some of that stuff will be necessary, this isn't exactly a sleepover."

Clyde shrugged. "Well, when you said we were going downtown I assumed you meant we'd be spending the night there. There are plenty of places to sleep, and besides, I don't think I'll ever want to sleep at my house ever again. It'll be too painful."

Lincoln sighed and nodded, his friend kind of had a point, Lincoln wasn't sure if he'd ever want to come back here again either. Why would he? Without any adults around, he could pretty much live where ever he wanted.

"All right then, but you're gonna have to lug that around by yourself."

Clyde shrugged luckily the suitcase had wheels on it, so it shouldn't be too hard to move around. Of course, if Clyde _did_ end up needing help wheeling it around Lincoln would help him. They were best friends after all, and they'd always have each other's backs.

"Let's go," Lincoln said and they all began to walk. Unfortunately, none of them had any bikes to ride. Rusty used to have a bike, but he accidentally left it outside one night and it got stolen. Which was another reason they were eager to get out of this neighborhood; there was a lot of crime that went on sometimes. And they couldn't take a car since none of them really knew how to drive, plus the roads were jammed with abandoned cars so it would be difficult to navigate.

Several kids watched them as they passed their small groups.

"Where are you guys going?" one boy asked.

"Away from here," was all Lincoln told him.

Teens and kids continued to watch them as they walked on. It made Lincoln feel like he was doing something he wasn't supposed to. Like he was sneaking out or something. Breaking a rule.

But as far as he was concerned- there weren't any rules anymore.

Lincoln and his friends eventually reached the end of the neighborhood and stood near an intersection. They looked around. Normally there were cars constantly driving by this intersection, most of the time they pulled in or out of the parking lot that led to a small shopping center and a CVS.

Only instead of cars, there was nothing but teens and kids. A lot of them were rushing into the stores and taking things. Food, clothes, mostly candy. The boys then looked to their left, the direction that led towards downtown Indy. The direction they were heading.

They didn't say anything, they just began to walk. The sound of the wheels on Clyde's suitcase scraping along the sidewalk drowned out the sound of random kids rambling on as they passed them. In the distance they could see some buildings. The Salesforce Tower building, the tallest building in the state of Indiana; on a clear day you could see it from several miles away. And the JW Marriot, a luxury hotel that stood like a giant dark block against the blue sky.

Maybe that's where Lincoln and his friends could live from now on. They'd have to hurry if that were the case. No telling how many other kids had the same idea.

They passed an apartment building, and a sudden though hit Lincoln, what if there were babies in there? All of them unattended. He quickly shook his head, there was nothing he could do about that. He hoped someone else would do something about it if that were the case. Lincoln even noticed some smoke billowing in the distance, a house was probably on fire or something. Again- not his problem. Although he did hope that no one was hurt.

They eventually passed a park, a park that Lincoln had used to take his dog Charles to to play. Only one day Charles ended up breaking away from Lincoln and running into the street where he ended up getting hit by a car. That was one memory Lincoln wanted to get away from.

The view of downtown Indy became clearer as the whole situation became more surreal. Lincoln couldn't believe he was walking there without an adult, just him and his friends. All kids.

A kid on a skateboard slowly skated by them in the opposite direction, he also looked to be fourteen as well and had long, dark, shaggy hair; black clothes and socks with marijuana leaves on them. He was crying.

Normally Lincoln would've found that funny. But today, it was just sad. Everything about today was sad, and it wasn't even noon yet.

They soon reached some railroad tracks, for some reason they stopped and looked both ways, part of them knew it was a silly thing to do, but on the other hand- what if there was a train currently careening towards the crossing? It certainly was a possibility. After all, they'd seen a few wrecked cars whose drivers had suddenly vanished.

After making sure it was safe to cross, the boys continued on. It was still going to take them several minutes to reach downtown. Lincoln wondered what they were going to find, no doubt more kid who were going to be just as scared and confused as he was.

They soon passed a fancy looking car, Lincoln wasn't sure what it was called because he wasn't a car expert, but even he could tell this car looked expensive. The car was still running and wasn't damaged, whoever was driving it probably wasn't going very fast when they disappeared. A bunch of random kids were standing around it all of them probably thinking the same thing. There weren't any other cars blocking the road anymore so what was stopping someone from taking the car? Certainly not an adult.

Eventually one boy got brazen enough and hopped into the car and peeled off. Leaving a trail of skid marks. He didn't get far however, as he quickly lost control of the car and crashed into a tree.

Several kids gasped and swore when that happened and Lincoln and his friends all stopped and watched as smoke began to rise from the hood of the car, and then the kid got out of the car and staggered away. Soon, the smoke turned to flames and the car was slowly engulfed.

Lincoln and his friends watched for a few more seconds before deciding they'd seen enough. They walked for several more meters until they saw a bus stop and crossed the street towards it to take a breath. Not because they were tired, but because they needed to continue processing exactly what the hell was going on.

They sat down and looked around again, continuing to take in every sight and sound the day was making. There were birds flying around which made Lincoln wonder if animals were affected by whatever made everyone suddenly vanish.

"I still think it was aliens," Zach said after no one said anything for several seconds.

No one responded to that. No one wanted to argue. What would be the point?

They just sat in silence as kids passed them left and right. Including a boy with dark hair who was carrying a younger girl who also had dark hair, she looked to be four or five years old and was sleeping. Lincoln wondered if they were brother and sister. He also wondered what it was like having siblings, he was an only child after all. He and his friends all watched as the boy walked in front of them. The dark-haired boy looked at them for a split second and seemed to pick up the pace after he walked by. Like he wanted to get away from them as soon as possible.

Lincoln wiped sweat from his forehead again as Rusty's little brother began to cry again and Rusty tried to calm him down

"So, what are we going to do once we get downtown?" Clyde asked.

Lincoln shrugged. "I don't know. Hopefully find a place to stay, group up with some more kids and think of what the heck we're going to do if our parents never come back."

Those words made everyone's blood run cold. They all thought of the last time they saw their parents.

Last night was just like any other night. They all said good night to their parents and went to bed, it was as simple as that. No different than saying goodbye to someone as they leave your house or before you hang up your phone. They'd all heard stories about how fast life can change, how quickly disaster can strike, how quickly people could lose loved ones. Like from a car crash or a shooting. You'd never think it could happen to you, but today- it happened to everyone.

Lincoln stood up. "Let's keep going," he said. And his friends stood up too. Not that they had to, they just obeyed him because they needed someone to tell them what to do and Lincoln was that someone.

They began to walk again, and Lincoln asked Clyde what time it was since he had a digital watch.

"It's fifteen minutes past nine."

Lincoln nodded. He'd only been up for a little over three hours and already he was wondering what he was going to do for the rest of his life. It's not like he had any special skills, he was just a teen. Nothing more than a child.

They soon walked past a three-way intersection and reached a small, blue bridge with the words _White River State Park_ painted in white letters. The boys all knew where they were now, granted they already knew where they were, but now they _really_ knew where they were. They'd been here like, a million times.

They were currently on the side walk, across the street was a gas station…and near that: _The_ _Indianapolis Zoo._

They quickly picked up the pace. They didn't know why they began to walk faster, maybe it was the fact that they were so close to a place that they all really enjoyed going to on field trips and other family events.

They crossed the street again and walked up to a black chain-link fence. Lincoln placed a hand on it. Wondered if he could scale it. He decided against it. They didn't have time to sightsee, or whatever you wanted to call it.

"Do ya think the animals will be all right?" Liam asked.

"I don't know?" Lincoln said. "We'll come back and check this place out later. Right now, I just want to get downtown."

Rocky tugged on his brothers. "Someone will take care of the animals, right?" he asked with an expression on his face that looked more worried than it did half an hour ago.

Rusty smiled. "Of course. No one's going to let the animals die."

That seemed to ease Rocky and as soon as he looked away the smile on Rusty's face left. He wondered if any one would be able to look after the animals or if they'd just end up dying.

The six boys continued to walk on the sidewalk, passing some kids who _did_ end up scaling the fence. Eventually they reached the part of the zoo where the elephant enclosure could be seen from the road. Sometimes when Lincoln was in the car with his mom, he was lucky enough to spot an elephant that had wondered to the edge of the enclosure. He was kind of hoping that they wouldn't see any right now, it would be too upsetting to see the gigantic animal going about it's day, not knowing that there was no one who would be able to take care of it and that it would eventually die a slow death, Lincoln wasn't sure how long it would take an elephant to die of dehydration or starvation, but he knew it wouldn't happen soon enough.

And it wasn't just the elephants, there were also other animals too. How long would it take for them to die?

Or… what if someone got the bright idea to set the animals free, because they couldn't stand to see them suffer being in an enclosure. Including the predators.

No… there was no way anyone could be that stupid… right?

They were now walking past the zoo entrance where there was a tall sign with a picture of a dolphin and a butterfly on it.

Lincoln's mind suddenly wondered to the Dolphin show, that would take place in the dolphin enclosure. It was fun sitting in the place where they housed the dolphins in the splash zone. But every performance was pretty much the same. If you saw one show, you saw them all. The Dolphin Dome was cool, though.

And as for the butterfly… who the heck came to the zoo to visit the butterfly house? Or the White River Gardens?

Once they passed the sign they could see another building in the distance, it looked like a large factory, but it wasn't. It was a stadium. Lucas Oil Stadium to be exact. Lincoln had only been there once to see a Colts preseason game. He didn't care much for sports, he only went for a group activity. He couldn't remember what the group was called. It was some kind of group that his mom signed him up for one summer because she would be so busy working that she wouldn't be able to take him anywhere to do anything fun.

He and the group sat close to the top of the stadium and near them was a brown-haired girl who seemed to be the same age as Lincoln. She wouldn't stop screaming her head off. He wanted to tell her to be quiet and that it was just a preseason game. That it didn't matter. But he didn't. Why would anyone tell a person at a sporting event to tone it down?

They were now walking past the zoo's parking lot. Even though the zoo didn't open until nine AM, there were tons of cars in the parking lot. All abandoned.

Several meters later they reached another crossroad, one road continued towards downtown, the other rounded off in a different direction.

They chose to go in the direction of the former and ended up reaching a bridge that crossed the White River. As they crossed it they stopped halfway and looked over the rails, watching the constant flow of the water. The current, like time, stopped for no one. That made Lincoln realize that no matter happened, the world would keep turning, with or without adults. Lincoln really hoped that once they got downtown they'd find a group of kids trying to take control of the situation. But at the same time, how could a kid take control of a bunch of kid?

Lincoln backed away from the rail and they kept moving. The Marriott getting closer and closer. While to their right was Victory Field. A minor league baseball park where a team called the Indianapolis Indians played. Lincoln had only been their once as well, if he thought football was boring, boy was he in for a rude awakening, he ended up falling asleep when he went there with the same group who'd taken him to see the Colts game.

If he remembered correctly the Indians lost the game. It was funny that the ballpark was called Victory Field, because the Indians sucked.

Once that summer was over, he told his mom never to sign him up for another summer session ever again.

Soon, they were walking past the entrance to the White River State Park. They were practically in front of the Marriott, now. They took a right and walked down a street that led them past a smaller, light yellowish building with the letters JW Marriot on the side. Lincoln wasn't interested in that, he wanted to go inside the big, tall Marriott building. It may not have been the tallest building in downtown Indianapolis, but it was definitely one of the biggest: Three hundred seventy-six feet tall and it was just as wide.

Lincoln thought about entering through one the restaurants the led into the hotel but decided against it. He wanted to go in through the front, maybe meet some other people.

They walked under a walkway that led from a parking garage to the hotel and a few seconds later were standing in front of the doors that led into the building. They looked up and took in the size of the building. They didn't call it _Big Blue_ for nothing.

"Come on," Lincoln urged. "First come, first served…probably."

His friends all nodded and walked into the building. The lobby was big and surprisingly empty. Except for one blonde girl in a blush-colored blouse and a hot pink skirt. She was looking nervously in a different direction when Lincoln and his friend walked in, but when she finally noticed them her face turned harsh.

"What are _you_ doing here?" she asked critically, as if Lincoln and his friends weren't allowed to set foot in this hotel.

They were all a bit taken aback by her tone, but in the end, it was Lincoln who spoke.

"What do you think we're doing? We're looking for a place to live."

The girl shook her head. "Well look somewhere else because no one is allowed in here."

"Say's who?" Lincoln responded, not appreciating being talked down to by a girl who looked to be the same age as he was.

"Says me." She jammed a thumb against her chest and placed her other hand on her hip. Her feet planted firmly on the ground.

"And who are you, exactly?" Lincoln asked.

"That's none of your concern," she said. "All you need to know is that my daddy is the manager here."

"Oh yeah? Well, where is your _daddy_?" Lincoln said that last word in a mocking tone which seemed to strike a nerve with the girl.

"I…I don't know," it sounded like she was trying to keep down a lump in her throat as she spoke.

"Well, until he gets back, me and my friends would like some room's please. Luxury suites."

"No!" the girl screamed, shaking her head furiously. "You're not allowed in here!"

"And who's going to stop us?" Lincoln asked, slightly raising his voice. Something he'd never done to a girl before, but he and his friends had just walked over a mile to get here and he wasn't going to let this girl get in his way. Not that he'd hurt her or anything.

"Lana!" the girl cried out to someone who was probably in another room.

"Yeah?" another voice said, and then a girl rushed into the room, carrying a monkey wrench. This girl looked just like the other one. Only she had her hair in a ponytail and was wearing a red baseball cap and a murky green tank top and jean shorts. She looked like someone who wasn't afraid to get dirty unlike the other girl who Lincoln now assumed was her twin.

"Kick these guys out of here, _now_." the girl said, pointing to Lincoln and his friends.

The other girl, whose name was Lana, turned to the boys and her face went from soft and concerned to cold and harsh.

"Why don't you all just leave before things get ugly," she held up her wrench as she said this.

Lincoln and his friends all took a step back.

"Or what?" the white-haired boy said. "You'll kill us?

The girl hesitated. "If I have too."

Lincoln shook his head. "Wow, our parents have only been gone for a few hours and we're already threatening each other?"

Before Lana could say anything, some other kids walked through the doors and saw Lana gripping the wrench tightly.

"Uh…are there any rooms available?" a boy jokingly asked, and Lana finally shouted at everyone to get out.

The new arrivals ran away, and Lincoln's friends began to follow suit. Lincoln still stared Lana down.

Clyde yelled for Lincoln to forget it and leave.

"I'd listen to your friend," Lana said. "I'm not afraid to use this thing." She waved the wrench around.

Lincoln scoffed. "I'd like to see you try."

The girl suddenly stepped towards Lincoln and swung the wrench as hard as she could.

Lincoln stumbled back, the jaw of the wrench missing him by inches. He fell on his butt and Lana took another swing at him. He dodged it again and began to scurry away. Afraid that at any moment, he'd feel the tool connect to the back of his head. But it never did.

He met his friends outside and they all had shocked expressions on their faces.

"What the heck was up with that?" Rusty said to no one in particular.

"I don't know," Lincoln said. "Let's just find someplace else to stay."

And with that, the boys continued in a new direction.

* * *

Back inside, Lana shouted orders at her twin sister

"Lola, go to the security section of the building. From there you should be able to lock all the doors electronically. I'll stay here and watch the doors."

The girl in pink nodded and hurried away, she'd have to be quick about locking the doors. There were so many entrances to the building. Those boys- or anyone for that matter could get in someplace else if they really wanted to. Why didn't they do this sooner? She reached the control room and began to lock all the doors.

As soon as Lana heard the doors in the lobby lock she headed to the control room where her sister was sitting on the ground sobbing. This was all just too much for her.

Lana went over and sat next to her. Putting an arm around her younger twin.

"It's okay, sis. Everything's gonna be okay."

Lana wasn't sure if her sister really believed that. And honestly, she wasn't even sure if _she_ believed her words either.

* * *

 _I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Part of me hopes that I'm not biting off more than I can chew with this story. I really do want it to last several chapters._

 _Also, I do plan on making there be a common enemy in this story, meaning there will be creatures in this story that are the equivalent of the greens in The Lost. But they won't show up until later._


	3. What Now?

**Alone**

 **Chapter 3: What Now?**

* * *

Lincoln and his friends currently stood at another four-way intersection a few meters away from the corner of the Marriott.

Lincoln was still pissed that they'd been kicked out by some girls who were obviously no older than he was. He and his friends could've all just rushed the girl with the wrench and disarmed her, but then what would they do. They couldn't live in a place where other people didn't want them to be. That would cause too much tension. And nothing good comes whenever tension is high.

"Well now where should we go, Lincoln?" Rusty asked.

Lincoln sighed, he didn't have all the answers. He'd appreciate it if his friends came up with some ideas. But, instead of saying anything about it, he just looked forward.

Slightly to his left he could see a building called the Eiteljorg Museum. It was a museum that housed artwork from Native Americans as well as some Western art. He then looked to his right and saw another hotel a few meters away.

"This way," he said, and his friends followed him.

They walked alongside a parking garage, passing a teen who was sitting on a slightly elevated rail that separated the grass from the sidewalk. He had his head bowed and was clutching a cross necklace in his hands. He was mumbling something. Praying, maybe?

Lincoln and his friends ignored him and kept walking, eventually reaching another crosswalk. They hooked right and walked under another walkway that led from the same parking garage and crossed the street and entered the hotel.

* * *

The hotel was much less impressive than the other one, but it still looked nice. It was also cool and comfortable inside. Lincoln wasn't sure how much longer that would last, since the power would probably go out without any adults to look after the power grid.

They walked around until they reached the lobby. There was no one behind the desk, which they kind of expected. They were glad there were blonde girls there to kick them out this time.

"So… is this like… our new home or something?" Clyde asked.

Lincoln turned to him. "You got any better ideas?" he said. He realized that he kind if sounded harsher than he meant and offered his friend a smile.

Clyde shrugged. "I guess not."

"I wonder if they have any suites, here?" Rusty said.

"They might," Lincoln said, and then he realized something. "But they might be located near the top."

His friends noticed that Lincoln sounded a little despondent when he said that.

"So?" Zach said.

"So… I don't feel like climbing so many flights of stairs."

"That's why god gave us elevators," Liam said.

"That's just it," Lincoln said, "what if the power goes out when we're going up and we end up getting stuck in it with no way out?"

His friends all looked at each other. Clyde began to sweat nervously. The thought of being trapped in an enclosed space was too much for him.

"Damn," Liam said, "I guess you're right about that."

"Yep," Lincoln said as he made his way behind the counter towards the back room. There was a filing cabinet where they stored the keys cards. He looked through it and chose a couple that were on the second floor. Good thing they still had plenty of rooms available.

Lincoln went back out and handed his friends their keys.

They all thanked him, and they were about to continue towards their rooms together when a voice spoke.

"Hello?"

All the boys turned their heads at once and saw some kids who'd probably just arrived, standing in the lobby as well. Lincoln and his friends all looked at each other again and as usual, it was Lincoln's job to do the talking.

"What?" he said, stepping in front of his friends and eyeing the new arrivals suspiciously, even though they all looked to be the same age as him.

There were seven of them in total, all carrying backpacks as well. Four boys, three girls. They all look scared and confused. (What else was new?)

One of them, a boy in a red and white striped shirt, spoke. "Uh… what are you guys doing?"

"We could ask you the same question," Lincoln said.

They all just stared at Lincoln for a few seconds before the boy spoke again.

"We're trying to look for a place to stay. This was one of the few places we could think of."

Lincoln nodded. "Same here."

Then he nodded his heads towards the room behind the front desk. "There are some key cards in there, but I recommend taking a room on the second floor."

When the boy asked why, Lincoln told him about how the elevators could get stop any moment. The boy nodded and thanked him but didn't move as Lincoln continued to study the group. There was the boy with the striped shirt who had golden brown hair. Two shorter boys and a taller blond boy wearing a blue cap backwards.

As for the girls there was a girl with glasses; poofy, red hair and freckles. A dark-skinned girl with dark-brown hair. And another girl who had short, curly red hair that barely touched her shoulders.

"So, what are your names?" Lincoln asked.

The boy in the striped shirt introduced himself as Jake, and the other kid introduced themselves as well. The girl with the curly hairs name was Cristina. Lincoln realized that he thought she was cute. If things weren't so messed up right now, he probably would've had a crush on her.

Lincoln and his friends then introduced themselves as well.

"Is it all right if we get some rooms next to you guys?" Jake asked.

"It's a free country," Lincoln said, which was especially true now more than ever.

Lincoln and his friends found the stairwell and climbed up to the second floor. While Jake and his friends went to look at the card keys. They each found their room and inserted the cards in the key slots. Luckily the card readers were battery-powered which meant they'd work even if the power went out.

He walked into the room, it was nice and tidy. There were two beds that were well-made. He dropped his backpack on the floor and flopped onto his stomach, lying sprawled out on the bed.

He imagined himself lying on a cloud, slowly drifting away. Far, far away from the world. Then a voice brought him back to earth.

"Lincoln?"

The white-haired boy looked back and saw his friend, Clyde standing near the foot of the bed.

"What?"

His friend stood awkwardly for a few seconds before speaking. "What now?"

Lincoln sighed and got up. "I don't know, Clyde."

He walked over to the window and stared down at the street below.

"I don't know."

* * *

Lori Keyes and Leni Short were like sisters. They'd both known each other since kindergarten and they shared the same interests: fashion, clothes, shopping, boy bands, movies and TV shows.

If one girl liked something, then there was a good chance that the other one did too. They were practically inseparable.

Which is why Leni had slept over at Lori's the night before everything changed.

Lori's phone alarm woke them up and she checked her phone, expecting a good morning text from her boyfriend whose name was Bobby. However, she wasn't connected to the internet, which was odd, but she assumed it would pass. So, she took a shower and once she was done, she checked it again. Still nothing.

She decided to go ask her parents what was up. They still should've been home, but she couldn't find them, which was weird because their cars were still in the driveway. She then noticed some kids wandering around the street aimlessly, like they were all searching for something. A lot of them looked too young to be wandering the streets by themselves. They all looked scared and confused.

Something was definitely wrong.

Lori hurried back to the bathroom where Leni was now taking a shower. Lori could hear her friend humming an innocent tune. She pounded on the door and told Leni to hurry up and get out the shower.

"But, I just got started," her friend protested.

"Then get finished," Lori urged. "We gotta go."

"Why?" her friend asked, "are we late for school?"

"No. Just… hurry please."

Lori heard her friend sigh.

"All right, just give me a moment, please."

Lori nodded, even though there was no way her friend could see it. She stepped away and into her living room. She kept checking her phone but every time, there was still no internet.

Leni soon stepped out of the bathroom and got dressed in her usual seafoam green dress and white sandals and sunglasses that rested on top of her head.

"So, what's the happs, Lori?" she asked, cheerfully.

"Check your phone," Lori said instantly, which made Leni's face shift into a concerned, confused expression.

"Why?"

Lori told her how she couldn't get her phone to work so she should try hers.

Leni hurried over to her phone. It didn't have any internet either.

"That's odd," she said as she put a finger to her chin.

"Come on," Lori said, gently grabbing Leni by the arm. "We need to get out of here."

"Why? What's wrong" Leni asked, sounding like a broken record at this point.

"I have no idea," Lori said.

And with that they both went outside and met up with a couple of acquaintances they knew from school. She asked them what was going on and they told her that everyone fifteen and older had disappeared without a trace.

Leni began to cry upon hearing this. Her knees gave, and she landed on her butt. Sat there and sobbed. She knew that if everyone else's parents disappeared, then hers were as good as gone, too.

Lori sat down next to her friend and put an arm around her, trying her best not to cry too.

Leni was such a kind, caring soul. And seeing her cry made Lori want to cry too. Add that with the fact that she'd probably never see her parents again either. Lori was surprised she was keeping it together.

For as long as her and Leni had been friends, Lori had always been like an older sister to her. Always looking after her and protecting her. Leni was a bit ditzy and easy to manipulate, which some people sometimes tried to take advantage of. Like when she'd go shopping, she was too kind to fight with anyone over clothes and stuff, so she'd always let other people have first pickings. And don't get Lori started on how many times older boys tried to take advantage of Leni. The two girls would be out and about, and some stranger would try to offer her friend rides in their cars or cat call her. Luckily Lori was always there to scare them off.

And as for Leni's parents, they had jobs that involved a lot of meetings in different states which meant Leni was at Lori's house ninety percent of the time.

The two girls had met in the Blue Bell scouts when they were seven. Lori was upset because there was a contest to see who could sell the most Blue Bell cookies. She'd barely lost to a girl named Carol Pingrey.

Lori was so upset, that she cried. Leni saw her and, being the kind soul that she was, tried to cheer Lori up. The two girls then got to talking and realized that they had a lot in common.

And here they were seven years later. Now it was Lori who was trying to cheer up Leni- or calm her down.

As soon as Leni stopped crying Lori told her that they had to go.

"Go where?" Leni asked with the biggest saddest eyes Lori had ever seen.

There was only one place Lori could think of.

"The mall, of course. No adults mean we can have whatever we want."

Leni's eyes lit up when Lori said that. She shot up and clinched her fists in excitement.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's, like, hurry!"

Lori stood up and told her that they'd have to pack some things first. She had a feeling that they'd be at the mall for a while.

On their way there, Lori saw her boyfriend Bobby, she called out to him and he ran over to her and they hugged each other.

"Babe, thank goodness you're all right."

Lori nodded and fought back tears. Told him how happy she was to see him as well.

"Where were you two heading?" He then asked.

"We're heading into town towards Circle Centre Mall. What were you doing before we found you?"

"I was gonna go to your house, but first I was trying to find my cousin Ronnie Anne. You haven't seen her, have you?"

Lori and Leni both shook their heads. Bobby's cousin was fourteen-years-old too, which meant she probably didn't disappear either.

"I'm sure she's fine," Lori said. "You know how tough she is, she can handle herself better than anyone."

Bobby nodded. "All right, I'm gonna leave a note at my place in case she stops by, then we can continue towards the mall."

Lori nodded, and she and Leni went with Bobby back to his house. Lori holding both her boyfriend's and best friend's hands.

* * *

A fourteen-year old boy named Chandler was walking along some railroad tracks that ran parallel to a road, kicking rocks and swearing as he went. He'd lived next to railroad tracks his entire life. He'd learned to block out the noise of passing trains sometimes. But on a few occasions, he'd be woken up by trains blasting their horns as they went by his house.

His dad was a train conductor and was always busy driving trains. Too busy to even notice that his mom was having an affair with too many guys to count. She was a stripper and often took some guys home with her. Looks like both of his parents enjoyed trains. If there was one thing he hated being woken up to more than a train horn. It was the sound of someone screwing his mom.

There was no way his dad didn't know. He was just too much of a pussy to say anything, and Chandler resented him for that.

He was glad his parents were both gone. Sometimes they'd both get drunk, his dad was a sad drunk, and his mom was an angry drunk. He couldn't decide which was more pathetic.

As Chandler walked he eventually happened up an injured animal. A raccoon that was missing a leg. It was probably hit by a train several hours ago and was too weak to move.

Without missing a beat Chandler found a large rock and brought it down on the defenseless animal's head, crushing it. He watched as it's brain oozed out. Even though he was probably doing it a favor by putting it out of its misery, Chandler enjoyed hurting animals, it made him feel good. Sometimes he'd take his paintball gun outside and shoot at birds, stray cats and dogs. Most of the time the dogs and cats would run away after being shot, but birds on the other hand, they'd were too small and weak to withstand being pelted and Chandler would end up using a brick to crush the animals and then bury the bodies. He liked to pretend that he was burying a human body sometimes.

Of course, now that there weren't any adults around to tell him what to do. He could make that a reality if he really wanted to.

* * *

 _I hope I'm not making these chapter too short. I'll try to work on making chapters longer later on. Right now, this is all just set-up. I have so many ideas for this story, I just have to figure out how to implement them.  
_

 _By the way, some of my OC's from The Lost have made cameo's in this story already. Were you able to spot them? (That boy named Jake wasn't supposed to be someone from The Lost, though. None of the characters from The Lost will be mentioned by name. Any character with the same name is someone else.)_


	4. The Zoo

**the corndog man: I appreciate that you're a fan of The Lost and it's my favorite fanfic I've made, too. Although, I highly doubt it'll last 100 chapters. I predict that it'll last around 20. As for Duke appearing in this story: that is an interesting idea. However, I'm not sure if or when Duke will appear in this story. Not that he'd be named anyway I plan on characters from The Lost only making cameo appearances.**

 **(So far the characters who have made cameos are: Shade, Stan, Sally and Zeke)**

* * *

 **In case any of you are wondering why this story takes place in Indianapolis, it's because I live near there. (which I'm pretty sure is obvious by this point) It's like in _The Enemy_ (there I go mentioning that series again) where the groups all take refuge in famous places around London, (Natural History Museum, Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral) it must've been pretty neat for people who lived in London and have visited those landmarks to read about them in a post-apocalyptic setting. Which is pretty much what I'm doing for this story.**

* * *

Alone

Chapter 4: The Zoo

Day 10: August 18th

Lincoln woke up in the regular sized hotel room to the sight of sunshine spilling into the room and the low-pitched hum of the air conditioner. Luckily the power hadn't gone out yet but after ten days you never knew if today would be the last you'd have the luxury of controlling the temperature of the room.

Lincoln got out of bed, showered, got dressed and left his room to go visit the room next to his where his friend Clyde resided. At first, he and Clyde had slept in the same room, but his friend eventually went and slept in his own room.

The hotel they stayed at started to get more residents after he and his friends arrived. Lincoln wondered if everyone who came here only did, because they were also turned away at the JW Marriott.

They were ten days into their new lives and a lot of kids still cried most of the time, but not Lincoln. He hardly ever cried. The last time he really cried was when his dog died after being run over. A lot of kids argued but so far there weren't any major fights that resulted from the squabbles. But Lincoln knew it was only a matter of time. He really hoped someone would try to take control of the situation. That was one of the reasons he came here to downtown: to find someone who could lead the kids. But so far there was no one who wanted that role. Lincoln would give that some time as well.

Lincoln knocked on his friend's door and waited. Clyde eventually opened it. He was dresses in his usual attire: Blue and yellow stripped shirt and black pants.

They greeted each other.

"So, are we doing this?" Lincoln asked, and his friend nodded.

"Yeah, I was just getting done packing some water."

Recently, Clyde had been chatting up with one of the girls who'd arrived shorty after them. The red-headed girl with the poofy hair. Her name was Penelope and she was a huge animal lover. She wouldn't stop talking about how worried she was that no one would be able to take care of the animals over at the zoo. It really annoyed Lincoln, not that he didn't care about the animals, it's just that this girl was sort of weird. She talked in a nasally voice and it kind of bothered Lincoln. Of course, he knew there was really nothing she could do about it, so he never said anything.

Lincoln surmised that Clyde probably had a crush on Penelope, In fact, it was Clyde who suggested they go to the zoo to check on the animals. He asked Lincoln if he wanted to go with. Lincoln didn't have anything better to do so he agreed to go with.

Soon, He, Clyde and Penelope, packed lightly with some essential supplies, told their friends where they were going and headed out.

The time was ten o'clock AM. The day was fair and warm and all around them were a few kids still wandering the streets aimlessly, looking for food and other supplies. A lot of kids had made homes for themselves at random buildings throughout downtown Indy. Including the Indiana Statehouse which was just a few meters away from the hotel Lincoln stayed at.

Lincoln had heard that the kids who stayed there were snobby, stuck-up kids. Which made him wonder if that one girl from the JW Marriott was with them. But the only names he'd heard people utter were Winston and Carol.

Lincoln didn't know who those two were and he didn't care to find out. The three kids walked past the JW and saw that it remained untouched, no one had been able to break into it. Lincoln wondered how those two girls were faring in there. He hoped they were just living it up in their fancy schmancy luxury rooms. If they were smart, they'd never show their faces outside again. Which made Lincoln wonder what he'd do if he ever saw them again. At the worst he'd probably just give them a harsh look. He'd never hurt a girl, no matter how bitchy she was.

As they walked, Clyde and Penelope chatted away. Clyde asked Penelope where she lived before all the adults disappeared and what her interests and hobbies were. Of course, one of her interests was animals. She talked about how she wanted to be a veterinarian when she got older, but it looked like that wasn't going to happen any time soon.

Clyde told her that he and Lincoln planned to become comic book writers and artists when they grew up. And about how they'd even met at an Ace Savvy convention. Ace Savvy was their favorite comic book superhero after all.

"Cool," Penelope said. "He's my favorite superhero, too."

That made Clyde smile even wider.

Lincoln couldn't help but grin at his friend. Clyde was very outgoing and could get along with anyone.

Of course, so was Lincoln. He had a lot of friends at school, but Clyde was his best friend.

They walked past Victory Field which was empty and lifeless, save for a few kids wandering through it. Lincoln wondered if he and some other kids should group up together and play a game of baseball or something. He may not have been a fan of sports, but getting together with some other kids to play could be a good way to raise people's spirits. Or something like that.

They soon crossed the White River bridge. It may have been sunny at the moment, but it had rained heavily the night before and the water was rushing by quickly. Lincoln had heard storied about how people would jump into a river because the water looked peaceful on the surface, but then were swept away by the undercurrent. Which meant that if the current looked bad at the surface, he couldn't imagine how dangerous it must've been below.

They kept walking and eventually reached the zoo parking lot. The walk hadn't been exactly been too long, but Lincoln still wiped sweat from his face. Weird that he was sweating so much, it wasn't even that hot out. It must've been stress or something… the stress of knowing he and all the other kids in the world were all alone.

They eventually reached the zoo entrance and went passed the ticket booths.

Lincoln wondered what Penelope planned to do, exactly. It's not like she could take the animals back to the hotel with her.

They entered the zoo and the first stop was the sea lion exhibit just like it always was. Lincoln liked sea lions, they were often called the dogs of the sea. He could remember the first time he'd ever come to the zoo when he was five. It was during a school field trip and as soon as he heard the sea lion barking he knew he was going to love the zoo.

That was back when everything was nice and peachy. Now everything was sad and depressing.

As they got closer to the sea lion enclosure they saw another teen standing next to it. A girl with blonde hair, holding a digital camera.

She soon noticed them and smiled. It was a nice, kind smile. Warm and inviting.

They walked closer to her and she said hello.

They all said hello back and Lincoln continued to study the girl. She had her part of her hair up in a ponytail while most of her hair came down close to her shoulders. She wore a black shirt under a long purple blouse that was tucked into a purple skirt and purple knee-high socks and black slip-on shoes

She walked over to them. The smile on her face was like a ray of sunshine.

"What are you doing here?" her voice was upbeat, despite the current situation.

For once, someone other than Lincoln spoke.

"We're just here to check on the animals," Penelope said. "What are you doing here…?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," the girl said, placing a hand on her chest. "My name's Lilly Lange. I'm just here to take pictures of the animals."

"Why?" Clyde asked.

The smile on Lilly's face slowly faded. "Because…with no adults to take care of these animals, they'll all probably end up starving to death. I'm taking their pictures, so they won't be forgotten."

"That's why we're here," Penelope proudly announced.

Lilly looked at her quizzically.

"My name's Penelope," she told her and then she introduced Clyde and Lincoln. "We're here to save the animals."

"How are you going to do that?" Lilly asked her.

Lincoln couldn't wait to see what exactly Penelope had planned.

"It's simple," she said, "We're going to let them all out of their enclosures.

"What!" Lincoln and Clyde both said at the same time and looked at Penelope like she was crazy.

She returned their gazed with an equally confused look. "What did you think we came here for? There's no way we can take care of the animals, so I say we set them free."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Lilly asked her.

"I can't think of any better ideas."

"I can," Lincoln said, "how about we don't let any of the animals out."

Penelope looked hurt that Lincoln would even suggest keeping them in their enclosures. "But if we don't let them out, they'll die."

Lincoln shrugged. "And if we do let them out, _people_ will die."

Penelope looked to Clyde for support.

"I have an idea," the black boy said, and Lincoln shot his friend an intense look.

"Does it involve _not_ setting any of the animals free?"

Clyde paused. "Well… what if we just let out the animals that aren't dangerous? Like, the zebras and giraffes and monkeys and gazelles and other non-meat-eaters."

Lincoln put his hands on his hips and thought about his friend's suggestion. Surely letting out a few herbivores couldn't hurt, could it?

He looked at Penelope who looked like she was about to cry. Then to Lilly who was just looking at him with a curious expression. (Gosh, she sure was cute) Then back to Clyde.

"I don't know, Clyde…"

"Come on. It's just a few animals. What harm could they do?"

Lincoln sighed. "Fine. But first we need to figure out just how in the heck we're going to set them free."

Penelope perked up. "We just need to find some keys to open the doors that lead into their enclosures. It shouldn't be too hard."

Lincoln sighed again. "Okay. But just a few, all right?"

Clyde and Penelope both smiled and nodded. Lincoln turned back to Lilly.

"Would you like to join us?" he asked.

"Sure," Lilly beamed, which made Lincoln smile. He really hoped he didn't look too much like a doofus.

"So where do you think we'll be able to find the keys to the animal's enclosures?" Lincoln asked Penelope.

"We should check the security offices, or something." Penelope said. "They've got to be there."

Okay, then," Lincoln said, and he followed his friends. Hoping that they weren't all about to do something they'd end up regretting.

Several minutes later the kids all stood in the forest section of the zoo in front of the Red Panda exhibit. It was the first stop on their tour to set the animals free.

Lincoln wondered if the four of them were the only kids in the zoo. Back before the world changed, this place used to be receive tons of visitors, even more than the Children's Museum. His mind suddenly shifted to the Children's Museum. He wondered what was going on over there. One of these day's he'd have to go check it out as well.

Penelope had managed to create an opening for the Red Pandas to escape through.

"Funny how they're called Red _Pandas_ even though they're more related to Raccoons," she said.

"Yeah," Clyde laughed, obviously trying to suck up to Penelope.

Lincoln turned to Lilly who was taking a picture of the Red Pandas. He hoped she'd look back at him and smile, but when she didn't, he quickly looked away. He didn't want it to look like he was staring at her.

They walked past the tiger exhibit. The tiger was asleep. At least that's what they assumed. Part of Lincoln hoped that it _was_ dead. At least that would mean it was no longer suffering.

They then freed the gibbons, who sat on top of the tree branches in their exhibit, observing the kids.

Next, they moved on to the Red Ruffed Lemurs. They all watched Penelope with wide eyes as she opened the door to their pen as well.

Then they walked to the Brown Bear exhibit. The bear was enormous, king of the forest. It walked around it's enclosure in circles, probably looking for food. Lincoln felt awful that there was nothing he, nor anyone could do for the poor animal.

Penelope wiped tears from her eyes. She told herself not to get too upset, they still had a long way to go.

Next were the bald eagles. The bird that less than a month ago were a national symbol of North America, now represented nothing but themselves. Lincoln recalled seeing a bald eagle only, once outside of the zoo, they used to be an endangered species, but were now making a comeback, looks like nothing was going to stop that from happening, now.

Once they were done with the forest portion of the zoo, they set the Ring-tailed Lemurs free. Lincoln couldn't help but think of the movie _Madagascar_ and the song _I Like to Move It._

Near the Lemur exhibit was the Orangutan enclosure. They went up to the window that let you peek into the exhibit from the outside. The Orangutans didn't look to well. They looked hungry. Lincoln had heard that one of the orangutans here had appeared in a few TV shows. Although, he had no idea which one of them it could be.

While orangutans weren't necessarily dangerous. Lincoln suggested that they wait a little bit before setting them free.

As they walked away from the Orangutan exhibit they noticed the place that housed the reptiles. They'd deal with that later.

Next, they went to the part of the zoo that housed most of the bird exhibits. The birds were easy to set free. They filled the sky with several different specks of colors as they flew away. It was so beautiful, that Lilly took a picture of it.

Next was the part of the zoo that, before today, Lincoln had always looked forward to the most when visiting: the plains.

The part of the zoo that housed the zebras, the giraffes, the cheetahs the elephants and rhinos, and none other than the lions just to name a few.

They all walked up to the first exhibit: the zebras and wildebeests.

Lilly took pictures and Lincoln and Clyde looked at each other while Penelope looked for an opening to let the animals out.

"I don't think we should let the wildebeests out," Lincoln warned.

"But what about the zebras?" Penelope cried.

Lincoln rubbed his face; it was bristling with sweat. "We've already released so many animals, Penelope. Plus, it's getting kind of cloudy, like it might rain. I say we just call it a day."

Penelope looked at him with her mouth slightly agape. "But what about the giraffes and the rhinos and the elephants?"

"The elephants! Are you fucking serious?" Lincoln finally snapped, which made Penelope kind of flinch.

Clyde and Lilly turned and looked at him with wide eyes. Then Clyde stepped up.

"Lincoln, take it easy, man."

Lincoln turned and shot him a fierce look as well. Deep down he knew he crossed a line by yelling at Penelope, but it was time for her to know the truth.

"No." Lincoln said and then turned back to the poofy, red-haired girl. "I'm sorry Penelope, but you can't save all of these animals. It's unrealistic for a couple of kids to get an elephant out of it's enclosure. Part of me wonders if we even did the right thing setting all those other animals free, who knows how they'll fare out there in the world. We might've just hurt things more than we've helped- "

Penelope plopped on her butt and broke down, sobbing. Lincoln instantly felt all the anger drain out of him. Clyde sat down next to the crying girl and tried to comfort her.

After a few awkward seconds Lincoln spoke.

"Penelope…" then Clyde shot him a severe look and cut him off.

"Just get out of here, Lincoln."

Lincoln looked at his friend, shocked. Clyde had never gotten angry at Lincoln.

"Clyde…"

"No! Penelope was just trying to do the right thing, and what do you do? You yell at her. You may not care about these animals, but she does. And if you don't wanna be here then just get the hell out of here!"

Lincoln just stood and stared at his friend for a few seconds then turned and looked at Lilly who instantly avoided eye contact.

Lincoln swallowed, trying his best not to look hurt. "Fine, good luck trying to get a six-ton animal out of its enclosure."

And with that he turned and stormed off.

Clyde tried his best to calm Penelope down.

"It's okay," he said to the crying girl, "we'll figure something out."

* * *

 _Hopeless. It's all hopeless._ The black-haired girl thought as she walked slowly along West Washington Street. The same street that led past the zoo.

Her name was Lucille Daughtry, but everyone called her Lucy for short. She was a fourteen-year-old girl who'd lived in a broken home all her life. It was just her and her mom who was a drunk bitch who fucked men for money. Sometimes her mom even let the men fuck her for money too. Unfortunately, Lucy had no say in the matter. All she could do was lie there and take it.

She hated her mother. Wished she'd just disappear. Well, it looks like she got her wish, because her mom was gone. And so was everyone else's.

For some reason, Lucy felt responsible. All the nights she'd lie awake wishing, praying that her mom would just vanish. She wondered if she'd prayed too hard and ended up making everyone else's parents disappear. She knew it was kind of ridiculous, but when all your life you hear your only family member scream and yell how everything is your fault, you begin to believe it.

Lucy had stayed hidden in her home after everyone disappeared, but after a few days, she'd eaten what little food she'd had and didn't feel like going out and looking for more. She didn't feel like doing anything, including living.

She was currently on her way towards downtown Indianapolis. The sky was beginning to gray as if a storm were approaching. Lucy kind of like storms. They were one of the few things she enjoyed. That and bats, vampires, ghosts and anything else dark and spooky.

But, what she liked didn't matter anymore. All that mattered was leaving this world: She'd tried slicing her wrists, swallowing pills, aiming her mom's gun at her head, but each time she chickened out.

She eventually went outside and began to walk downtown, which is what she was doing now. She figured she'd climb to the top of the tallest building, and jump.

* * *

Lincoln was sulking as he exited the zoo next to the gift shop and was now walking through the parking lot. He felt bad for snapping at Penelope. He was just stressed about everything and had taken it out on a poor girl who didn't deserve it. And now his friend was mad at him and that cute Lilly girl probably thought he was a massive jerk.

He guessed he kind of deserved it. Penelope was just trying to do the right thing. Lincoln thought of going back in there and apologizing but decided against it. They probably didn't want to hear any of it.

It seemed like it took forever to reach the end of the parking lot, and he still had the rest of the walk to look forward to. It annoyed him that a large gate was preventing him from walking through White River Park. He looked up at the gray sky.

Yep, it was definitely going to rain. It sure would suck to get caught in it. He didn't feel like getting wet. If that happened he'd have to wash his clothes.

Sure, the hotel had some washing machines, but he hated doing laundry. He hated a lot of things, but with no adults around he had to learn to like doing the things he hated.

He reached the end of the parking lot and was now walking on the sidewalk. He noticed a girl with very pale skin and ink-black hair walking several meters in front of him. He thought about going up to her and saying something but decided against it. She looked like she wanted to be alone, but on the other hand, she looked lonely.

She was now walking onto the White River Bridge and Lincoln began to pick up the pace, something didn't seem right about the girl.

* * *

Lucy was now walking on a bridge, she looked over the railings and saw that the water was very high and rushing past. That's when an idea popped into her head. If she jumped off this bridge, the water would just wash her away, far away from this place. Whereas if she jumped off a building, her mangled body would just lie in the street for everyone to jeer at for who knows how long.

It was decided, she was going to jump off this bridge. She wasn't sure how high it was, but the current looked powerful. Powerful enough to drown her. Not that Lucy could swim anyway. She'd never been to the beach or swam in a swimming pool or anything.

Before she knew it, she was over the railing standing on the edge of the bridge. Wondering if she could really do this. She reflected on her life; remembering every bad thing that had ever happened to her. Then she tried to think of all the good things that had ever happened to her and realized, there weren't any.

She looked up at the dark gray sky, it reflected her mood heavily. And with that, she let go of the railing. Took a deep breath and one small step.

* * *

Lincoln yelled at the girl not to jump, but she couldn't hear him over the rush of the water. He watched as she let go of the rail and let herself fall off the bridge. He swore and stopped running, he was trying to run up to the girl and stop her, but now he went over to the edge of the bridge and looked over. He could see the girl being swept away by the current.

Lincoln swore again and made his way back towards the end of the bridge. Every second counted so he had to run as fast as he could. He threw off his backpack in the process.

Underneath the water Lucy was tossed and turned like a rag doll, powerless against the current. She no longer knew which way was up. Occasionally she caught glimpses of light behind her closed eyelids, she hoped that meant she was about to resurface, but then she was dragged under by the current before she could break the surface. A large part of Lucy began to regret jumping off the bridge as she felt water begin to fill her mouth. In a fit of panic, she opened her eyes and swore she could see something approaching her, swimming right towards her, having no trouble swimming through the current. It appeared to be brown and had a skinny, humanoid-shaped body. It had two dark empty holes were its eyes should've been. And that was all Lucy could make out before she passed out.

Lincoln soon reached the end of the bridge and made his way over a small hill, crossing some railroad tracks and crossing another small bridge. Making his way towards the White River Trail. He strained his eyes trying to spot the girl and somehow saw her body floating lifelessly in the water, heading towards a large pile of small boulders that lined across the river.

Lincoln swore again as he made his way past some tress and then saw her body get stuck on the rocks. Looks like Lincoln was going to end up getting wet today.

He began to make his way towards her body using the boulders as stepping stones. Lincoln hurried as fast as he could, but he also had to be careful not to slip.

He eventually reached the girl. Now came the hard part: dragging her back to land. Luckily, she was small and light, only a few inched shorter than Lincoln.

He tried to drag her body back to shore but ended up slipping and being washed down across the boulders, taking the body of the girl with him. He wrapped his arms protectively around the girl and hissed with pain as jagged rocks scraped his body.

Eventually they were clear of the strong currents and Lincoln held onto the girl with one arm and swam towards land with his other. The weak current mercifully pushed him towards safety.

As soon as he felt his shoes touch the ground he began to drag her onto dry land.

He frantically asked the girl if she was conscious, but of course, she didn't respond.

Lincoln knew what he had to do: He had to perform CPR.

He knew how to do mouth-to-mouth because of Clyde's asthma. His mom made sure he knew how to do it in case his friend didn't have his inhaler.

Lincoln laid the girl flat on her back and began with chest compressions, then mouth-to-mouth.

"Come on, damn it," Lincoln said to both the girl and himself.

As he pressed down on the girl's chest he noticed how the black shirt the girl was wearing clung tightly to her body, and her well-developed breasts.

Lincoln quickly shook his head and swore at himself for being such a pervert when this girl was dying, which made him press down harder on her chest

Suddenly she stirred to life, shot up and coughed out water and some bile.

Lincoln was filled with relief. He exhaled heavily and fell back on his butt as the girl slowly turned to him.

Bright light filled Lucy's vision, then it slowly dimmed as a figure came into view. For a moment she was afraid it would be the thing she saw before she passed out.

But it wasn't. It was just another kid. A boy with white hair. Lucy wondered if she was dead and if the boy in front of her was an angel.

He then spoke. "Hey, are you okay?"

Lucy knew she wasn't dead, now. What kind of angel would ask a question like that? If an angel was talking to someone that meant they weren't okay- they were dead.

Lucy closed her eyes and brought a hand to her face. Began to cry.

"It's okay," she heard the boy say, "you're safe here."

 _Safe?_ Lucy thought. Since when was anywhere safe.

"Why did you save me?" she asked. "Why didn't you just let me die?"

There was a moment of silence, the only sound was the rushing of the river that had almost been her grave. She knew the boy was probably giving her a judgmental look.

"I don't know," said the boy. "I guess I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I didn't do something."

Lucy didn't say anything, she just continued to cry.

Lincoln sat and waited patiently as she cried.

"Why are you still here?" she asked after a few minutes. "Just leave me alone."

"I'm afraid I can't do that," the boy said.

That made Lucy want to be angry, but she couldn't.

"Why?"

"Because, I already went through the trouble of rescuing you. What kind of rescuer would I be if I didn't stick around to make sure you were all right?"

"I didn't ask to be rescued," Lucy said. She'd stopped crying by this point.

"And I didn't ask to be a rescuer," Lincoln responded. "But I did it because it was the right thing to do, and I'd do it again."

Lucy turned away from him again and lied on her right shoulder, watching the river water flow by, endlessly.

"Why?" she asked. "I'm just a stranger to you. I'm nobody."

"You don't have to be a stranger," Lincoln said, "you're certainly not nobody. You have to have a name, don't you?"

The girl didn't say anything.

"My name's Lincoln. What's yours?"

The girl still didn't respond.

"I can wait until your comfortable to tell me your name. I got nothing but time."

"Lucy," the girl said.

"I'm sorry?" Lincoln said.

The girl sighed. "My name is Lucy. There, ya happy?"

Lincoln nodded even there was no way Lucy could see him.

"Well, Lucy, would you mind telling me why you did what you did?"

Lucy was quiet for a few seconds, then she said, "Why do you think? I just didn't want to live anymore."

"Why?"

"Because… what's the point?"

Lincoln didn't quite know how to respond to that. He looked up at the sky and watched as bluish-gray clouds began to fill everything.

"I don't know," he finally said. "I guess with no sense of order, no one to tell you what to do, it's easy to just lie down and die Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if others have already done what you just tried to do."

That thought made Lucy kind of shiver, that or the fact that she was cold and wet.

"However, the difference between you and them is that someone was there to save you."

"What are you saying?" Lucy asked.

"I'm saying you're not alone, Lucy. No one is ever truly alone. Not if they've got people who still care about them and are willing to go after them if they jump in a river."

Lucy turned her head slightly and side-eyed Lincoln. She noticed that he had fresh cuts around his arms.

"Where did you get those?"

The white-haired boy looked at his arms. "Oh, well… I got them trying to save you when you were stuck against those rocks."

Lucy looked over at the boulders and then back at him. "But, you could've been seriously hurt."

Lincoln shrugged. "Yeah, I guess you're right about that."

Lucy began to cry again, she doubted even her own mom would risk life and limb to save her. Yet, this boy, this stranger, had.

Lincoln still sat on the ground and waited until she calmed down.

"If you want," he said, "you can come back with me to the hotel I'm staying at."

Lucy looked at him. Her eyes were kind of obscured by her dark bangs, but Lincoln could tell she looked kind of surprised that Lincoln offered her a place to stay.

She sighed again. "I guess."

Lincoln smiled and stood up. Offered her his hand, which she hesitantly took.

"Just stay close to me, please," he said.

Lucy shrugged. Which was good enough for Lincoln. Before they began to walk away, Lucy took one last look at the river. Hoping that whatever the heck she saw under the water was just a hallucination.

They walked in silence for several seconds. Lincoln kept glancing back at Lucy, she hugged herself as they walked. He noticed how her shirt also seemed to act as a skirt as well and that she wore black and white striped socks that went up past her knees. Leaving only parts of her thighs exposed. Lincoln was wondering if she was wearing shorts or anything under her skirt when he noticed Lucy look at him.

"Don't worry," Lincoln told her, trying to make it look like he wasn't checking her out, "we can find you some new clothes and wash those when we get to the hotel."

Lucy nodded.

Several seconds later, when they reached the bridge, Lincoln looked over towards the zoo. He hoped Clyde and the others were all right, he was really feeling bad for yelling at Penelope, he'd apologize to her later, though.

Right now, he had to focus on getting back to the hotel. As he picked up his backpack he began to feel raindrops.

* * *

It was pouring down rain.

Clyde, Penelope and Lilly were currently resting inside the café in the commons area waiting for the rain to stop.

They had just opened a way out for the warthogs when the rain began to cascade. Before they left the enclosure, Penelope noticed that one of the female warthogs was nursing some baby piglets.

She hoped that those babies would be all right.

"So why did you get into photography?" Clyde asked Lilly, as he leaned back on his chair and put his hands behind his head.

Lilly smiled. Happy at the fact that she'd get to discuss her passion.

"I just enjoy taking pictures," she said, "I enjoy capturing moments in time and immortalizing them. People, places, things. Anything can be turned into art with one simple flash of a camera."

Clyde nodded. "Pictures are going to be important if we ever get things back to the way they were. Hopefully history will look back on your photos. They might even end up being the modern-day equivalent of those old paintings of America's founding fathers. You know, like the one of them signing the Declaration of Independence."

That made Lilly smile even wider. But then it dampened and she looked back down at her camera. "That probably won't be for a while though. Not until long after I'm dead. I just really want these pictures to be my legacy, you know."

"I hear that," Clyde said. "You're doing a good thing, Lilly. Moments may last a while, and memories last a life time, but pictures… pictures last forever."

Lilly's smile returned which made Clyde happy as well.

Penelope on the other hand, wasn't happy. She kept thinking about what Lincoln said. How she couldn't save all the animals.

Well, she'd show him. As soon as the rain stopped she'd go back out there and free them all. No one would stop her from accomplishing that.

Soon, night fell, and the rain didn't stop. Penelope wanted to stay the night. Clyde decided to stay with her. He didn't feel like going back and seeing Lincoln, which made him feel bad because Lincoln was still his best friend.

Oh well, there'd be time to make up later.

They all used their backpacks as pillows. Clyde liked falling asleep to the sound of rain. It was nice and peaceful. His favorite of all ambient noise.

Clyde and Lilly eventually fell asleep, but it took Penelope forever to fall asleep. And when she did, it didn't last long.

She woke up an hour or so later. It had stopped raining and dawn was beginning to creep up on the horizon. She decided to get up and go for a walk. Taking the keys with her.

She walked to the plains area of the zoo. All the while she kept looking up at the glowing, orange sky. So vast and endless. After animals, Penelope had been interested in astronomy. She really wanted to be an astronaut, but, how could she? She'd always get car sick, which meant there was no way she'd be able to handle a rocket ship. So, she had to settle for wanting to be a veterinarian. Still though, that didn't stop her from looking up at the starry night sky whenever she got the chance. She'd look through her telescope out into the great beyond. She'd always been curious if there was life on other planets. How could there not be? The universe was seemingly endless. So many stars, planets and galaxies. Too many to count. You could have a million years to study space and yet you'd only scratch the surface once time was up. Wasn't it Arthur C. Clarke who said ' _Either we are alone in the universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.'_

She wondered if aliens were responsible for the disappearance of everyone fifteen and older. She thought about a kid back at the hotel who whole-heartily believed aliens were responsible. The thing was: no one could say they weren't. If that were the case, she wondered why they only took people older than fourteen. Did something happen before they were all born that made them undesirable.

 _Undesirable._ Penelope hated that word. Growing up, she was what some may call: unattractive. What with her poofy hair, pig-shaped nose and buck teeth.

She tried her best not to care about her appearance, but that was kind of hard to do when people were constantly judging you for it. Humans could be so cruel: They murdered people for fun, made fun of others, and were constantly at war with each other.

Unlike animals. Animals only killed out of necessity. To survive and feed their families. Not out of sport like people.

She thought back to all those pictures she'd seen of people with hunting rifles they'd used to kill animals. Posing next to the dead animal's body. How they all had the biggest smiles on their faces. Proud that they'd just taken a life for no good reason.

Penelope began to ask herself: was humanity really worth trying to preserve. Would it be better for Earth if the rest of the people in it just died?

Suddenly, she was in front of the lion exhibit. She studies the bars that held the lions like cages. She watched as one of the male lions just rested on a huge boulder. It wasn't fair that these animals had to suffer and die just because no one could take care of them.

Then Penelope began to think. Well, if no one can take care of the lions, then maybe the lions would just have to take care of themselves.

She was so blinded by her passion and love of animals that she stuck the keys into one of the doors leading into the exhibit.

Not before looking around making sure the coast was clear. She then opened the door to the exhibit creating an exit for the lions. Then she ran away before they could notice.

Penelope had a huge smile on her face as she ran away from the enclosure.

She did it! She'd saved the lions. She didn't care what Lincoln, or anyone would say or think once they found out the lions were free. This was their world, now.

They were God's creatures, they deserved a chance at life just like everyone else.

And she wasn't going to stop until she saved them all.

Then she stepped on something squishy and nearly tripped. She quickly stopped running and turned around.

There was something small and black writhing on the ground.

Penelope got closer to it and upon further inspection, she realized that it was a baby warthog. It must've wandered out of its enclosure.

"NO!" she cried as she crouched down beside it, too afraid to pick it up, lest she cause it more harm.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" she continued to cry.

Then the baby warthog slowly began to stop writhing in pain and died.

Penelope began to sob. In trying to save lives, she'd accidentally taken one. She then picked up the baby bovine and cradled it.

Its mom was probably going to be so upset when she found out-

Suddenly Penelope heard a rush of hooves on concrete and turned her head right as something large and black rammed into her. Lifting her off the ground and causing her to come crashing down onto her back.

Suddenly she couldn't breathe, it felt like her lungs were filling with water. She brought her hands up to her throat and when she pulled them away, they were stained with blood.

She then looked at whatever it was that had crashed into her and saw that it was the mother warthog. Flesh was hanging from one of it's tusks. Penelope quickly realized that the flesh belonged to her. The warthog had speared her right in her neck.

The mama warthog trotted up to the baby and nudged it with it's head. Its other babies were close behind her. When the baby warthog wouldn't respond to its mother the mama began to become agitated.

Penelope tried to scream for help, but all that came out was a pained gurgle.

The mama warthog then turned back to Penelope and scraped one it's front hooves against the ground. Penelope knew what that meant. She then charged at Penelope again. The injured girl closed her eyes right before impact. She felt a calmness rush over her and soon felt herself drifting up into the great beyond.

* * *

Clyde and Lilly were now both awake and looking for Penelope. Lilly had woken up to go to the bathroom and when she Penelope wasn't in the café or bathroom either. She woke up Clyde and they both went to go look for her.

Clyde was a little bit nervous, he trusted that Penelope wouldn't go and do anything stupid like let a predator out of it's enclosure, but on the other hand, she was pretty determined to save all the animals.

They decided to check the plains first. There was no sign of her body as they passed the zebra, giraffe and rhino enclosure.

Then he saw her lying on the ground, surrounded by a pool of blood. Her blood.

They both ran up to her and Lilly put a hand over her mouth as Clyde knelt next to Penelope's body. It looked as though she'd been stabbed in the neck with a huge spear.

"What the heck could've done this?" Clyde cried. Tears began to fill his eyes and he took off his glasses and rubbed them.

Lilly began to whimper, but then she stopped. Stood frozen.

"Uh… C-Clyde…"

Clyde looked at Lilly and saw that she was looking at something, he looked to where her eyes were pointed and before them, only a few yards away, was none other than a fully-grown male lion. Standing tall and proud. And hungry.

Even Clyde's tears had frozen. There was no way Penelope had actually freed the mother fucking lions, was there? And if so, was that what had killed her?

The lion seemed to lick it's chops as he eyeballed the two defenseless children. It was as if he were deciding which one to attack first.

Lilly began to slowly back away.

"D-don't… move…" Clyde whispered to her as softly as he could. But she didn't listen, she just continued to back away.

" _Lilly…"_ he whispered more harshly. But still, she backed away, slowly increasing her pace.

The lion looked at her. To Lilly it felt as though he was starring right into her soul. It also looked as though the lion had made up his mind. He was going to go after Lilly.

He put one paw forward, then another, and another, and another until he was in a full-on sprint.

Lilly screamed, too frozen to keep moving, instead she just collapsed to the ground and curled up into a ball.

"Lilly!" Clyde screamed, there was nothing he could do for the girl. All he could do was watch as the lion sprinted towards her and… passed her?

The lion completely ignored Lilly and continued running. Clyde was confused at first, then he heard a commotion and another animal cry out.

He slowly got up and looked to see that the lion was attacking a zebra. A zebra that they'd freed yesterday. It must've decided to attack the animal since it had more meat to offer than Lilly did.

Clyde then hurried over to Lilly, who was still curled up in a ball and tried to lift her to her feet. She screamed, thinking that it was the lion attacking her, but soon realized it was only Clyde.

"Come on, run!" he screamed, and Lilly looked over to see the lion attacking the zebra. Then the girl bolted towards another direction, away from the lion. Clyde followed. There was nothing they could do for Penelope, so they just left her body on the cold, wet ground.

They ran and ran and ran. Completely abandoning their backpacks that were still in the café. Lilly still had her camera so that was good enough for her.

They didn't stop running until they reached the hotel.

They were both breathing heavily, neither had ever run so fast and so far before.

"Whoa, what happened to you?" one of the kids in the hotel lobby asked as they continued to pant. "It looks like you two just saw a ghost or witnessed a grisly murder."

Clyde and Lilly looked at each other, both still breathing heavily. Clyde then turned back to the kid and tried to speak, but just ended up barfing all over the kid.

"Dude! What the fuck?" the kid yelled.

Then Clyde and Lilly both passed out.

* * *

 _All right, we got our first glimpse of the enemy in this chapter._

 _Anyway, I'd say that this was my favorite chapter so far. Mostly because it was the longest._


	5. Lucy

Alone

Chapter 5: Lucy

* * *

 _Meanwhile… while Clyde, Penelope and Lilly are still at the zoo._

Lincoln and Lucy had reached the hotel and were now walking up the stairwell that led to Lincoln's hotel room, he'd grabbed her a key to her own room, but for the moment he was leading her to his room. He didn't necessarily trust her to be alone by herself.

Why he was doing this, he didn't know? He figured he was just trying to be a nice guy.

As they walked through the hall to his room, several kids who were sitting around chatting stopped and looked as Lincoln and Lucy walked past. Mostly eyeballing the new girl.

"Who invited death?" One kid asked, as they walked past him and his little clique. A few kids laughed.

Lincoln wanted to turn around and deck the kid, but he was just too tired.

"Yo, L-dog, what's up?" a high-pitched voice asked, and Lincoln looked to see Rusty approaching. A huge smile on his face.

"Nothing much," was all Lincoln could think to say.

Rusty noticed Lucy and seemed to check her out a little bit before noticing that Clyde or Penelope were nowhere to be seen. When he asked Lincoln where they were, he told them that they were still at the zoo.

"Why aren't you still with them?" he asked.

"Because, I just didn't feel like hanging around at the zoo," Lincoln said in a tone that told Rusty he didn't feel like talking about it.

"I see…" Rusty said then his eyes shifted to Lucy whose clothes were still kind of wet, he tried to make it look like he wasn't noticing how her clothes still kind of clung to her wet body. "Uh… who's your friend?"

"Lucy," Lincoln answered, looking at the girl who was just staring at the ground avoiding eye contact, not that anyone would know if she was making eye contact since her eyes were pretty much hidden behind her bangs.

"Hello, Lucy. I'm Rusty Spokes," Lincolns friend held out a hand, but Lucy didn't even acknowledge him. Rusty slowly lowered his hand.

"Sorry," Lincoln said, "it's been a long day and I think she'd just like to rest."

"Oh. uh… yeah," Rusty said as he stepped aside and let them pass.

Lincoln opened the door to his room and Lucy stepped in. He could feel everyone's eyes were on him.

A boy and a girl occupying in the same room? He knew that's what everyone had to be thinking. It's not like there were any rules against it, though. It's just something you didn't see very often. Lincoln could also feel their jealousy. Boys and girls usually kept away from each other; boys only hung out with boys, and girls only hung out with girls. (unless they were siblings) But he knew that would eventually change. With no adults to tell them who they could and couldn't hang out with. The kids were bound to start…exploring. However, right now, they were just trying to get used to this new world.

Lucy stood in Lincoln's room- well, the room that Lincoln occupied. It's not like he was paying to stay in this room, he just kind of…claimed it.

Lucy wasn't used to being in such a nice room. It may not have been too big or fancy, but it was better than the house she'd lived at her entire life. The bed was clean, cozy-looking and well-made, no sex stains, blood stains or cigarette burns.

She was in the middle of studying a comfortable looking armchair when Lincoln spoke.

"So… do you want to take a shower?"

She turned to him and saw that he was pointing towards a door that led to the bathroom.

She slowly nodded.

"All right," Lincoln said, and he went over to a closet and took out a bathrobe that was mostly his size, but it looked like it would fit Lucy okay.

"Here," he handed Lucy the robe and then a towel. She took them and just stood there, not knowing what to do now. "You can go into the bathroom take your dirty clothes off and just hand them to me."

Lucy looked down to the ground, avoiding Lincoln's gaze. "Okay."

She made her way into the bathroom, turned on the lights and the exhaust fan. Set the robe and towel on the counter and finally looked at herself in the mirror.

Her hair was still pretty wet, and her black shirt was stained with dirt. She slowly lifted her long black shirt, that also doubled as a dress off her, revealing a white t-shirt underneath it. She paused, took a deep breath and slowly lifted it off as well. Now she was just wearing a black bra and panties. Along with her dark flat shoes with a single strap going across them and black and white striped socks.

She studied her pale body some more. The bathroom was mirror was so clean and clear, she could finally get a good look at her body.

She noticed all her bruises, marks and scars. Her lower lip began to tremble, and she sucked in a big gulp of air. She looked down, placed both of her hands on the counter and began to stifle some sobs. She took several deep breaths until the urge to start crying again, passed.

She sighed stood up straight and was about to take of her bra when she decided to taker off her shoes and socks first to delay her having to take off her bra and panties.

She sat down on the closed toilet and took off her shoes and socks. She put her shoes aside and tossed the socks onto the dirty clothes pile.

She stood up and walked back to the mirror. The feel of the cold bathroom tiles underneath her feet was a new sensation to her.

She was standing in front of the mirror again. Sooner or later she'd have to take off her unmentionables. She slowly lifted trembling hands to her bra again when a knock on the door startled her.

"Everything okay in there, Lucy?" Lincoln asked.

"Y-yeah…" Lucy said just loud enough for him to hear.

She heard him shift away from the door and then she went back to reaching for her bra. She undid it with trembling hands. And looked away from the mirror towards the dirty pile of clothes and then she placed the bra with the rest of her clothes and then slowly slid her panties down her legs and placed them there as well.

Now…the moment of truth.

She took a deep breath again and slowly looked at the mirror, getting chocked up as she clearly saw herself naked for what felt like the first time.

As she expected. There were marks on her breasts and on and around her crotch.

She could see her vagina clearly, it wasn't obscured by pubic hair because her mom said that guys liked a clean-shaven girl. Not that there was much hair to begin, she was only fourteen after all.

That thought made her want to break down again, but she knew Lincoln was waiting on her, so she put on the robe, picked up her clothes and opened the door.

Lincoln averted his eyes just in case and Lucy handed him her clothes. He slowly looked towards her and took her clothes. All while avoiding eye contact.

"I'm going to take these to the laundry room, to get washed. Are you going to be all right by yourself?"

Lucy nodded.

"All right," Lincoln said, "See you in a little bit, don't open the door for anyone but me, please."

Lucy just nodded again.

Lincoln smiled at her as she closed the bathroom door and locked it.

Lincoln really hoped he could trust her not to do anything bad. He then set Lucy's clothes down and changed out of his clothes and into some clean clothes. He suddenly swore to himself when he realized that Lucy didn't have any spare clothes.

He sighed and told himself that maybe they could look for some later.

He then grabbed his keycard and left the room. Ignoring all the stares as he walked down the hall towards the second-floor laundry room.

Lucy stood and waited as the water for the shower slowly began to warm up. She placed a hand in the shower to check if it was warm enough and when it was she stripped out of the bathrobe and stepped into the shower. The warm beads of water sent relief throughout her entire body and she leant her head back and the water flow from the top of her chest to her groin and down her legs all the way to her top of her feet. She rubbed the front of her body wiping her breasts in the process. She could feel them jiggle and that triggered some bad memories. She thought back to how the men who raped her would always comment about how perky and well-developed her breasts were. She closed her eyes and exhaled. She kept telling herself that the bad men were gone, now. Just like everybody else. She then stepped forward, letting the water wash over the back of her body now. She reached down and rubbed her but, she could feel marks and scars there as well, especially one scar that was caused when a man struck her on the ass with the same hand that had his wedding ring on it. That sent even more shivers up Lucy's spine, despite the hot water that was now washing over her entire body.

She then rubbed her hair, getting it wetter. She figured it was time to shampoo now. She reached down and picked up a small bottle, it would have to do. She squirted a dime-sized shape of the liquid into the palm of her hand and rubbed it in her hands then in her head and over her entire body, she especially made sure to get her vagina clean. That's when she noticed some blood dribbling down her pale legs and down the drain.

Lucy swore silently to herself. She'd have to deal with that later, right now she just wanted to get clean. She stepped back under the shower head and closed her eyes. Letting the water cascade over her and wash away her troubles. It was kind of funny how relaxing the water was despite the fact that she was almost killed by water about an hour ago.

The longer she kept her eyes closed. The clearer the image of her under water became. She felt uneasy, like something was watching her. Just then, she began to see the thing she'd seen under the water swimming towards her. It's face clearer now.

It's hideous, dark, brown face. The two holes that were supposed to be its eyes. It didn't have a nose and its mouth was a tight slash, as if it were closed tight. The thing swam closer to her and reached out towards her with human-like hands.

Lucy's eyes shot open and she backed away from the shower head. Almost slipping in the process, her breathing had increased. It felt so real. There was no way she imagined it.

After calming down, she stepped back under the shower head and rinsed the rest of the shampoo away.

When she was sure it was all gone she turned off the shower and watched the water and blood swirl down the drain.

She sighed.

Lincoln probably didn't have any tampons, she thought as she stepped out of the shower and dried herself with the towel. Once she was done with that she was about to put on the robe when she noticed that the mirror had fogged up. She went over to it and wiped it with her hand and studied herself. Her hair was still wet, and her face was still slightly obscured by her bangs. She moved the bangs away and finally looked at herself with her eyes. Noticing every bruise, mark and scar again.

At that moment she decided that she wouldn't let her scars or her past define her, that the girl who tried to kill herself an hour ago was dead. That this was the new Lucy, not Lucille Daughtry. Just Lucy.

She smirked, it was the closest thing to a smile. Lucy couldn't even remember the last time she'd smiled. Then she put on the bathrobe and noticed that blood was still trickling down her legs.

It was going to be a little embarrassing to ask Lincoln if he knew if anyone had some spare tampons, but the boy had already risked his life for her. Looking for female hygiene products would be nothing.

* * *

Lincoln stood in the hotel's equivalent of a laundry room, sitting on a chair. The days event's kept replaying in his head: going to the zoo, setting a bunch of random animals free, yelling at Penelope and getting in a fight with Clyde, rescuing Lucy from the White River.

He realized more than ever how much he missed his mom. He wanted nothing more than for her to hold him and tell him that she loved him and that everything would be all right.

"Lincoln," a voice said, and he looked up to see Rusty, Liam and Zach approaching.

"Yeah, what's up?" Lincoln said.

His friends entered the laundry room. They all had curious expressions on their faces.

"You know what's up," Rusty said in a mocking tone. "Who's that girl, and why is she in your room taking a shower?"

"How do you know she's taking a shower?" Lincoln asked defensively, tensing up.

"We heard you tell her to take a shower, as well as the sound of running water, also you're washing her clothes."

Lincoln eased up a bit. "She's just a girl that I… found on my way back here."

"Found, huh?" Rusty said, "So, you just ran into this girl, asked her to come back to the hotel with you and somehow convinced her to get undressed in your room and take a shower."

Lincoln sat and stared at his friends for a few seconds before responding. "Yep, that's what happened."

His friends all looked at each other again.

"But how, man?" Liam asked, "We can't even get the girls who've been living with us for the last few days to acknowledge us."

Lincoln shrugged. "Beats me?"

The washer then stopped, it was time to put the clothes in the dryer. "Well, I'm sure you guys don't want to watch me do laundry, you can leave now."

His friends all looked at each other and then back at Lincoln, who just offered them a friendly smile.

His friends all sighed and walked away. As they did Lincoln heard Zach begin to speak. He didn't hear what he was saying, but he heard the word 'alien' and Lincoln assumed he started going on about aliens. Maybe the girl was an alien.

Lincoln chuckled to himself and then took the clothes out of the washer and put them in the dryer along with a fabric softener and pushed a button on the dryer and the machine hummed to life.

Several minutes later the dryer stopped, and Lincoln examined the clothes. They were dry.

He took them out and folded his clothes, then moved onto Lucy's. He folded her shirts, her socks and then paused when he got to her bra and panties.

He'd never handled a girl's unmentionables before.

He finished folding her clothes and began to head back to his room.

He opened his door and closed it. Saw Lucy lying down on a towel. Her hands resting on her stomach.

She turned her head to him, the look on her face made it seem like she was happy to see him, even though he couldn't really see her eyes. He just had a feeling.

"I uh… your clothes are clean." He said setting down his clothes and holding hers up.

"Thanks," she said.

When she didn't move, Lincoln just walked up to her and set the clothes on the edge of the bed.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"Yes," she said, "It's just that…"

"What?" Lincoln said _If somethings bothering you, you can tell me. I'll do anything for you._ He wanted to say.

She sighed. "You or anyone else wouldn't happen to have any tampons, would you?"

Lincoln just stood there for a few seconds. Soaking in the question. (no pun intended)

"I… I don't know?" he finally said.

Lucy sighed again. "Well, I'm menstruating. That's why I'm laying down on this towel."

Lincoln looked at the towel she was lying on, his eyes flickered to her bare legs for a split second. He really hoped she didn't notice.

"Th- that's okay," Lincoln said. "I'll uh… go ask around. See if anyone has some to spare."

Lucy just slowly nodded her head and Lincoln smiled at her. He was pretty sure he looked like an idiot.

"Are there like… different kinds or…?"

Lucy told him what kind she normally used, and Lincoln nodded and hurried out the door.

Lucy sighed and couldn't help but smirk again.

* * *

Lincoln hurried up to the floor above him. There were mostly girls on that floor so they were bound to have a few spare tampons.

He exited the stairwell and all the girls who were hanging out in the hallway looked at him as if he were in forbidden territory.

He noticed three girls in particular. One with a yellow shirt, her hair in a ponytail. Another one with a purple shirt light-brown hair. And a black girl with her head beaded into pigtails.

Lincoln braced himself.

"Excuse me," he said, as he walked up to the girls. "Can I ask you for a favor?"

"That depends," said the one with the ponytail, as if she were the leader of her little group. "What do you need?"

Lincoln stepped a little bit closer to the girls and leaned in. "You wouldn't happen to have any… tampons, would you?"

The girls each raised an eyebrow. Studied the white-haired boy.

"Why?" the girl with the ponytail asked.

"I just have a friend who needs some, okay," Lincoln said quickly

The girls studied him some more. Then the one with the ponytail smiled.

"Okay, I'll go get some."

Lincoln breathed a sigh of relief. _That was easy_.

She returned later with a box of tampons. The same kind Lucy asked for, thank goodness.

"Thanks a lot," Lincoln said.

"No problem," the girl who handed him the box smiled.

"My name's Lincoln by the way," he told them.

"My names Girl Jordan," said the girl with the ponytail.

Lincoln just looked at her.

"Well… I used to be called Girl Jordan, I had a friend named Jordan who was a boy, so we called him Boy Jordan… I don't know where he is now, however. So, I guess you can just call me Jordan."

Lincoln nodded.

The other girls introduced themselves too. The brown-haired girls name was Mollie and the black girls name was Joy.

Lincoln nodded again and thanked them again. Getting out of the girl section of the hotel as soon as he could.

He got back to his room and Lucy was still lying on her bed.

"I got them," Lincoln said, holding up the box of tampons and shaking it like it was a box full of goodies.

Lucy thought he looked like a doofus. But the way he smiled, and the fact that he went to get her tampons when he probably didn't know anything about female hygiene products couldn't help but make her grin.

Her mom didn't even buy her tampons, the only way she could get them was to steal them from a nearby homeless shelter.

He walked over and handed the box to her. She thanked him and got up to go to the bathroom and take care of business, taking the towel and her clothes with her.

Lincoln went up to the window and looked out. The sky was getting darker and it was raining heavily. Lincoln wondered why Clyde wasn't back yet. He figured Clyde and the others didn't want to get caught in the rain.

He really missed his friend. He hoped he was all right. The first thing he was going to do when he saw him, and Penelope was apologize for being such a jerk.

The bathroom door opened, and Lucy stepped out.

Lincoln looked at her and smiled. She kind of kept her head down and stopped in front of Lincoln's bed. She was only wearing her white T-shirt, socks, …and panties.

Lincoln could feel himself start to blush, he tried to keep his eyes on Lucy's face.

"You comfortable?" he asked.

She nodded.

"All right," the white-haired boy said as he looked back out the window. He didn't know what time it was, but he was tired. It had been a long day.

"I don't know about you," he said, "but I think I'm going to turn in."

He took off his shoes and went over to the dresser and took out his orange pajamas. Then excused himself as he walked past Lucy to go change.

As he was in the bathroom he wiped swear from his forehead. It looked like this was going to be his first sleepover with a girl. He began to take off his clothes when he realized he hadn't showered yet. He silently swore to himself. He looked over and saw the towel that Lucy was lying on. It had red blood stains. Lincoln sighed and then spotted some washcloths on the counter. Looks like he was just going to have to wash himself by using those and the sink.

A few minutes later he exited the bathroom in his pajamas and saw Lucy lying down on her bed. Lincoln was relieved she'd chosen the bed he hadn't been sleeping in.

The air conditioner was blowing cool air into the room. Blocking out any noise from the hallway.

"Well… goodnight," Lincoln said to Lucy and she just slowly nodded.

He got crawled into his bed and before he turned off the lamp that provided the only light in the room he suddenly remembered how Lucy didn't have any other clothes.

"Hey Lucy… if you want… tomorrow we can go find you some new clothes."

The girl simply nodded.

"All right… goodnight… a-again," he chuckled.

No response from Lucy.

He turned off the lamp and closed his eyes. He was out like a light.

Lucy, on the other hand, stayed awake for what felt like forever, but was probably only an hour.

The events of the day kept replaying in her head. She could've been dead right now if it wasn't for the white-haired by sleeping only a few feet away from her.

She looked over at him and listened to the sound of his soft snoring. Part of her- a big part- wished she was lying right next to him. She felt something traveling down her cheeks. Tears… but tears of what? The only tears she'd knows were tears of sadness and misery.

She rested her head against her pillow and closed her eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep.

The next thing she knew she was in a room. Her room. It was just as dark and dirty as it always was. How did she get back here? Suddenly the door to her room swung open. And her mom appeared, bony and with pointy features. She literally looked like a witch.

"You have a visitor," she said, her voice raspy as if she'd smoked cigarettes all her life.

 _No… not another visitor_. Lucy dreaded. Visitors were what her mom called people who wanted to fuck her.

Then, someone stepped into the room. It was the creature Lucy had seen in the river.

She froze. Where the hell did it come from?

"Take your time," her mom said to the creature, "Just don't mess her up too good. There are still other people who want a piece of her."

Her mom shut the door and Lucy was alone with this creature. She was too scared to even move.

All she could do was stare at it. Its face was as brown and featureless as she remembered.

It had pitch-black eye sockets. It didn't have a nose, but it had teeth; It didn't appear to have any lips, and its teeth were clenched. She could also see that it didn't have a crotch.

What did on plan on doing to her if it didn't have any genitalia?

The thing suddenly lunged at her, Lucy couldn't move, she was powerless to stop it. As it got closer she noticed that its bones were visible through its skin; she could see its rib cage.

The things slammed into her and then shoved her on her bed. Its hands were wrapped around her neck; they felt cold and scabby. It was choking the life out of her.

She tried to scream out for her mom, the woman who'd given birth to her and was supposed to be her protector. But no sound came out. Lucy's vision began to blacken and right when she couldn't see anything, sound finally escaped her mouth.

She screamed but was still surrounded by darkness.

"Lucy?" she heard someone say, and then the room was filled with light.

Lincoln sat up in his bed and was looking at Lucy with deep, concerned eyes. He noticed that she was breathing heavily, and sweating. Appeared to be crying as well.

"Lucy," he said again as he got out of his bed. "Are you okay?"

He crouched slightly to get on Lucy's level.

Lucy didn't reply, she just sat there with her head down and sobbed into her hand. Lincoln just stayed next to her and waited for her to stop crying, letting her take as much time as she needed to let the tears out of her.

Eventually, after several minutes, she was calm enough for Lincoln to speak to her.

"Lucy, what's wrong?"

Lucy just shook her head and sobbed some more. Lincoln wasn't sure what to do. He was just a kid, he didn't know how to handle stuff like this.

There was some knocking at the door. Probably some kids wanting to see what was with all the noise. Lincoln tried to ignore it, but when the knocking turned into pounding he got up and went over to the door.

It was his friends, as well as a few other curious kids.

"Lincoln, what the heck is going on?" Rusty asked.

"I don't know?" Lincoln said, "I'm handling it," which was a lie. "So, don't worry about it."

He shut the door before Rusty could say anything else.

Several more minutes later, Lucy calmed down again.

"Are you okay?" Lincoln finally asked.

Lucy shook her head, fortunately she didn't break down in sobs again.

"Are you… comfortable enough to tell me what's wrong?"

Lucy took a deep, watery breath. "It… it was just a nightmare."

Lincoln didn't exactly buy that it was _just_ a nightmare, it sounded like it was more than that.

"Do you mind if I ask what about?"

Lucy didn't respond she just buried her head in her blanket.

Lincoln took a deep breath. "Lucy, I know we've only known each other for less than a day, but if somethings bothering you, you can tell me. I'm here for you."

Lucy kept her face hidden.

"Is… is it about what's happened, or… did something happen to you in the past?"

Still no reply.

Lincoln sighed again, he got up and sat on his bed. "I'll be here whenever you're ready to talk… if you want to."

He sat there for several minutes as Lucy kept her face buried. Her shoulders were steadily rising and falling.

Lincoln eventually started to lie down when Lucy finally spoke, her voice muffled by the blanket.

"It was before…"

Lincoln quickly sat up. "Before what?"

She slowly lifted her head up. "Before… _this_ "

Lincoln knew she was referring to when every adult vanished.

"What happened?" He asked getting out of his bed and kneeling next to Lucy's again.

Lucy sighed. She knew it was going to be a long story, but Lincoln was prepared to hear every last word of it.

So, she told him.

Told him about how as long as she could remember, her mother would let men- and women too- have sex with her against her will. In other words: rape her.

How she had so many marks and scars and from the people who assaulted her.

How she couldn't tell anyone, because Lucy wasn't allowed to leave the house, she didn't even go to school, she was home-schooled. At least that's what everyone thought.

Sure, Lucy would sneak out sometimes, but she was too afraid to go to the police. Because her mom had convinced her that if she told anyone, she'd just end up getting sent to a place that was a thousand times worse than where she currently lived. And she believed her.

She told him that's why she'd tried to kill herself, that she thought there was no hope in the world. All she knew was constant pain, and when it suddenly stopped, she didn't know how to go on, integrate into the world. Who would care about her? She was just a girl who was used and abused her whole life. Broken and useless.

She left out the part about when she saw that creature, though.

Lincoln just stayed still the whole time Lucy told him her story.

He was completely shocked, stunned, horrified and everything in between.

He was speechless as well. What the hell could you even say after someone tells you they've been sexually abused more times than they could count?

But he had to say something.

He contemplated reaching over and holding one of her hands but decided against it.

"Lucy… I… I'm so sorry," Lucy didn't reply which made Lincoln feel like an idiot. Of course, he was sorry for her, who wouldn't be? "I… I had no idea."

"No one did," Lucy said.

Lincoln paused. "I… I know there's nothing more I can say other than 'sorry', but… you don't have to worry about any of that anymore. Like I said: you're safe."

Lucy slowly turned to him

"And don't think that no one cares about you, because I do. I care."

Lucy just looked at him, Lincoln couldn't really see her eyes past her bangs, but he could see the two tear drops slowly traveling down her face.

"Are you okay?" he asked, referring to the fact that she looked to be crying again.

"No," she said, "I don't really think I'll ever be okay. Or fully recover from what's happened to me for the past decade." That statement made Lincoln's heart drop.

"But…" she went on. Lincoln perked up when she continued. "Knowing that there's at least one person who cares. That definitely helps ease the pain."

She offered Lincoln the tiniest hint of a grin and that made the boy smile.

"I'm glad I could offer _some_ comfort," Lincoln said.

And they stayed like that for several moments before Lincoln spoke again. "Are you going to be all right to go back to sleep?"

"No," she said.

"Well I'm prepared to sit here all night until you do."

"You don't have to do that," she said, and before Lincoln could respond she continued, "At least… not on the floor."

Lincoln didn't know what she was saying. "You want me to go back to my bed?"

"No," Lucy said, "I want you to…" she looked away, back down at her blanket, "lie down next to me… if you don't mind."

Lincoln's entire body suddenly felt warm as his stomach felt like it was filled with butterflies. He had heard the phrase about the stomach feeling like it was filled with butterflies. A phrase he always thought was cliché, but damn was it accurate.

"I…uh…" his mind began to race. He had no idea any of this would happen when he woke up this morning, just like he had no idea that seventy-five percent of the world's population would disappear without a trace when he woke up on the morning of August 8th. "Are you… sure?"

Lucy slowly nodded, "I don't want to be alone."

"B- but you won't be alone. I'll be right there," he nodded towards his bed and a small part of his brain was yelling at him to stop trying to get out of sleeping next to a girl.

"Please…" she said, her head still facing down. She sounded needy.

Lincoln's throat felt dry and he swallowed. "Well… if that's what you want…"

Lucy shifted over a foot to give Lincoln some room and Lincoln watched himself as he stood up and his arms lifted the covers, so he could get under them.

 _Okay. I'm doing this. I'm really doing this._ Lincoln thought as he brought the blanket over his body. At least he was only _sleeping_ next to her and nothing else.

They were both lying down in the bed. Lucy turned and lied on the right side of her body, facing away from Lincoln. Which kind of put Lincoln's mind at ease.

"Lincoln?" Lucy said.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think you can… put your arm around me?"

Dang it.

Lincoln was beginning to feel something stirring in his nether regions.

Oh boy.

Nevertheless, he did what she asked and carefully put an arm around her, protectively.

She scooted closer to Lincoln until they were practically spooning. Lincoln's face felt hot and just when he couldn't feel anymore tense, Lucy's butt brushed against his crotch. Which was more than a little hard.

Lincoln gasped.

"I'm sorry!" he said and began to pull away from Lucy.

"It's okay," she said quickly, and then turned her head slightly to face him. "It's okay…"

Lincoln's heart and mind were racing a mile a minute. He felt flustered and took a deep breath.

"Please don't leave me," Lucy said, her voice sounded slightly desperate, scared even.

Lincoln swallowed, there was no way he could bring himself to leave her, he scooted back to her again. Wrapping his arm back around her. She felt so small and fragile. This time she wrapped one of her arms around his, so it couldn't escape. Lincoln then adjusted the covers so it separated his crotch and her bottom.

"Are you… comfortable?" he asked after a few seconds.

"Mhmm," was the only sound Lucy made.

"Okay…" Lincoln said softly. And they stayed like that until they both feel asleep.

It was the best night sleep Lucy had ever had.

* * *

Chandler had seen the whole thing. He'd been playing on the railroad tracks when he noticed a girl jump off the White River Bridge.

He watched with sick fascination as her body floated down the river. He'd never seen anyone commit suicide before- at least not in person.

He'd thought it was the coolest thing he'd ever seen. He bursts out laughing when her body got stuck on a pile of rocks.

Then he watched as a boy with white hair risked his own life to rescue her.

 _What are you doing, dude? She's already dead. You're wasting your time._

Then the boy slipped, and his and the girl's body ended up being dragged down the pile of rocks.

Chandler howled with laughter again.

 _Idiot. That's what he gets for risking his life for some dumb bitch. Couldn't he see she wanted to die?_

Then he saw their bodies wind up on shore and the boy began to give the girl CPR and revived her.

 _You've got to be fucking kidding me._ Chandler wanted to shout.

He watched some more as the boy and girl began to talk and then they got up and walked away.

Chandler waited a few seconds and then they appeared again and walked over the bridge.

It was beginning to rain. He ignored the feel of the water droplets beating down on his head as he continued to watch the kids. They walked past him, not even noticing him.

He was pissed. That white-haired boy had denied him the opportunity to witness an actual death.

He swore as soon as they were out of sight and made his way back to where he'd been living since day one: an industrial building.

Chandler's mind began to wander. He was really itching to see people die. And if he wanted that to happen, he'd have to make it happen. He entered the building and went over to an office that he'd turned into his own little hang out. There was a random assortment of weapons. Mostly knives.

He picked one up and studied its blade, tapping its point with his finger. He imagined the jamming it into the bodies of the two kids he'd just seen. And slicing their throats as well.

He then looked off into the direction of downtown Indianapolis. Where a lot of kids had taken refuge. They were all scared and helpless.

This was the start of something new. Something dark.

Chandler grinned.

It was time to bring night down on the city.


	6. The Mall

**Shadowmaster91: This fic was inspired by a book series by Michael Grant called _Gone._ Since I'm such a huge fan of _The Enemy,_ I'd often see that book series be recommended. I tried reading it, but quickly lost interest. Funny how the kids in that book series all have super powers, too.**

* * *

Alone

Chapter 6: The Mall

Day 11: August 19th

* * *

The overcast sky pitched a cool blue light over the entire city of Indianapolis and into the hotel room where Lincoln still had his arm placed protectively over Lucy.

She was partially awake and could feel his soft breath gently brush against her hair whenever he exhaled. Her eyes were already closed, and she was drifting back off into the realm of peace and serenity.

Before yesterday, she didn't know what if felt like to be safe. But as she lied there next to the boy who'd saved her life and listened to her talk about her life. She guessed that it must've felt something like this.

An hour or so later there was a frantic pounding on the door. It startled both the kids awake and Lincoln swore as he shifted off the bed away from Lucy. She wanted to grab his arm and wrap it back protectively over her again and keep him from leaving her, but she resisted.

Lincoln hurried over to the door and opened it to see Rusty standing before him, a frantic expression on his face.

"What-" was all Lincoln got out before Rusty began to bombard him with information.

"Lincoln, Clyde's back with another girl and he threw up and now he's passed out in the lobby!" he said this all in a single breath.

It took Lincoln's mind a moment to register what his friend had just told him. He was in a deep sleep less than thirty seconds ago, and now his friend was in his face yelling at him with his high-pitched voice that hurt Lincoln's ears.

"What…?" the white-haired boy asked groggily. Even though he pretty much got the gist of it.

Rusty repeated what he just said, slower this time. And Lincoln could feel his blood run cold.

"He's still passed out in the lobby. No one knows what to do."

Lincoln nodded. He was about to rush out of the room when he suddenly remembered Lucy. He turned back to her and saw that she was looking right at him, with a curious, yet worried expression on her partly obscured face. He went over to her and told her to wait in the room, that he'd be right back.

She just nodded slowly.

Then Lincoln quickly put his shoes on, not bothering to change out of his PJ's and ran out of the room with Rusty.

* * *

When they got down to the lobby, Lincoln's blood froze when he saw Clyde lying passed out on the floor. Lilly was a few feet away and had her legs pressed up to her chest and was holding herself, crying as other girls tried to comfort her. Rusty told him that she'd passed out too, but it looked like she'd woken up. Now if only Clyde could just please wake up.

Lincoln told one of the kids to find a bucket and fill it with water. As he waited, he noticed that Penelope was nowhere to be seen. He wondered what that meant. When the kid returned Lincoln dumped the water on Clyde.

His friend shot up and started coughing. Lincoln then knelt next to his friend, put a hand on his shoulder and waited for his coughing fit to recede.

As soon as it did Lincoln asked his friend what happened.

Clyde began to cry. "I'm so sorry Lincoln. You were right. We had no business trying to set the zoo animals free."

Lincoln heard a murmuring from the surrounding kids as Clyde continued to cry.

Lincoln gulped. "Clyde… what happened?"

Clyde sniffed. "Penelope, she… she… she got mauled to death."

There were some gasps as the volume from the surrounding kid's voices began to increase.

Lincoln's eyes widened. "By what…?"

"I don't know?" Clyde said. "We found her body and before we could do anything a lion showed up and almost attacked us."

"What!" Lincoln cried, "What do you mean you were _almost_ attacked by a lion?"

"I'm so sorry, Lincoln, but Penelope let the lions out of their enclosures."

All the kids in the room began to cry out and swear.

"Are you telling me there are lions on the loose?" went one kid.

"How many?" another kid asked.

Lincoln loosened his grip on his friend's shoulder. He wanted to yell at him for not keeping an eye on Penelope. Say 'I told you so,' but what good would that do? His friend was already upset enough, he didn't need Lincoln piling anything else on him.

Instead, he remembered what one of the kids had just asked. "Clyde, how many lions did you see?"

Clyde shrugged. "I just saw one, but there might be more." He then told his friend about how one of the lions almost attacked Lilly but then decided to go after a zebra.

Lincoln stood up as more kids began to talk at once.

"What are we going to do?" One of them asked.

"Who knows where the heck they could be now?" Another one said.

"Maybe the lions will wander off away from the city and we'll never see them again," one boy said. But a lot of kids expressed doubt.

Lincoln just looked at his friend, who was sweating profusely and had some vomit stains on his shirt. Then to Lilly who was pretty much inconsolable at the moment.

Lincoln felt overwhelmed. He began to get dizzy and felt woozy. There was a high-pitched ringing in his ear.

He should've just tried harder to convince Penelope that there was nothing they could do for the animals. But he didn't, and now she was dead. Plus, any other kid who might end up getting attacked by the wild cats.

Lincoln waited until Clyde calmed down some more and then lifted his friend to his feet.

"Come on, man. Let's get you cleaned up."

Clyde just looked at him and then the two boys looked at Lilly. There were some other kids trying to talk to her. He even saw Jordan attempting to talk to her. Lincoln hoped she'd invite Lilly up to the third floor of the hotel to live with them.

They thought of saying something to Lilly, but she was too distraught to hear anything they had to say, so they just decided to leave her be.

As they walked Lincoln and Clyde both apologized to each other, Lincoln told his friend that he was glad that he was okay. Then caught each other up with what they'd been doing for the last couple of hours.

Lincoln told him that he had a girl staying with him in his room.

Clyde raised an eye brow. "A girl? Who? Why?"

Lincoln just told Clyde her name and that he met her on his way back and that she was kind of… delicate, so to speak. He didn't say anything about how she'd tried to kill herself.

They reached Clyde's door and he swore. His keycard was in his backpack that he'd left at the zoo. Which meant he'd have no way to get back into his room and get his clothes… or medication.

Lincoln stopped in his tracks. Then he breathed a sigh of relief when he remembered that they kept a master keycard placed at the end of the hallway in a fire extinguisher case. That's what they'd used if someone got locked out of their room. Of course, now Clyde would have to get a different room since he didn't have a keycard to his original room.

They used it and Clyde changed his shirt and took all his stuff out of his room and Lincoln said he could keep them in his room while he went to get a new key.

They then walked back to Lincoln's room and he told Clyde a little bit more about Lucy.

Then he opened the door and stepped in. Lucy hadn't left the bed. She looked a little nervous when Clyde walked in.

Lincoln introduced Clyde and told her that he was his best friend. Lucy kind of eased up, but didn't say anything

"Hey, how's it going?" Clyde said, approaching Lucy. He noticed that she wouldn't look at then and he stopped going towards her.

"Sorry, Clyde," Lincoln said. "She's just… not used to you yet."

Clyde nodded his head in understanding. A small part of him was confused though. Lucy had only known Lincoln for a couple of hours, yet she was already sleeping in his room.

"Well, I'm going to go get another key. Be right back."

Lincoln closed the door after Clyde went out. Now, it was just him and Lucy, alone again.

"What's going on?" the girl asked as Lincoln went back over to her and sat on the edge of her bed, her voice was small and still kind of groggy.

Lincoln sighed and told her about the previous day's events, and what Clyde had just told Lincoln about how there were lions on the loose.

Lucy didn't even react when Lincoln told her how a girl was killed and that another one was almost attacked by one of the lions. She just turned her head towards the wall in front of her and stared at it as if she were watching paint dry. Lincoln had no idea what she could've been thinking, it was hard to read her face when her eyes were hidden behind her dark bangs.

"So… how did you sleep?" he asked.

"…Good…" she responded.

Lincoln nodded. "Do you think you'll want to go out and try and find you some clothes and stuff? I guess since you're gonna be living here from now on."

"…Is it safe?" she asked, the tiniest hint of worry in her voice.

Lincoln shrugged. "I don't know? Who knows where the heck those lions could be, now. Hopefully they're still at the zoo, focusing on the other animals."

"Where will we go?"

Lincoln thought for a few seconds. "I think there's a mall around here somewhere. We can go check it out later if you'd like."

Lucy pondered that question for a few moments. A part of her never wanted to leave this hotel room, but another part told herself that she couldn't just lie around all her life. She had nothing to be afraid of, that her mom and all the people who'd ever hurt here were gone. That the old Lucy was dead.

"I guess," she said.

"Are you sure?" Lincoln asked. "Because if you just want to stay here and rest for a while longer I'll understand.

"I'm sure," Lucy said. "I need to get out more; my new life starts today."

Lincoln smiled. "All right, I'm ready when you are."

Lucy wanted to smile, but all that came out was a small grin.

* * *

Lincoln told Clyde that he and Lucy were heading to the mall. His friend was shocked at first.

"Are you sure you want to go out there, Lincoln? Who know where those lions could be?"

Lincoln nodded. "Yes, I'm sure. Those lions could still be at the zoo for all we know. They'll probably be too scared to leave the safety of the place they've known all their lives. I'm sure we're safe for now."

Clyde nodded. Well, okay. Good luck." As much as Clyde wanted to go with Lincoln, he was worn out from the run back to the hotel and was still shaken up from his encounter.

Lucy stepped out from the room trying her best to put on a confident swagger but failing. She looked just as fragile as when Lincoln rescued her.

"Ready?" Lincoln asked, giving her the friendliest, warmest smile, he could. And Lucy knew that as long as he was with her, she had nothing to be afraid of.

"Yes," she said softly.

And off they went.

However, before they left the building Lucy took Lincoln's hand. Her touch kind of caused him to tingle, in a good way, of course. He looked at her and saw that she was looking down, her face was kind of blushing. He smiled and then interlocked his fingers with hers.

* * *

They walked into the morning light. The sun was beginning to shine through the clouds and spread its yellow glow onto the ground.

Lincoln and Lucy were currently walking past the State House. Lincoln glanced over and couldn't help but admire the building, how it represented the old world, back when everything was still in order. Now, it was nothing more than a monument occupied by kids who used it as a hangout. He'd heard that there were a lot of snobby, stuck-up kids in there, he wondered what they were doing in there, or what they planned on doing.

A few seconds later they passed a theater. The Indiana Repertory Theatre to be exact. There were some kids hanging around it. They all looked like goth kids, all of them lost in their own conversations. A lot of them were smoking as well. It's not like there was anyone to stop them from doing things they weren't supposed to be doing.

"Did you ever watch TV before this?" Lincoln asked Lucy.

Lucy nodded slowly. "I would normally watch the late shows whenever my mom was passed out drunk. I mostly prefer horror and slasher movies."

Lincoln raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

Lucy slowly nodded.

Lincoln grinned, "I once watched this movie called the Harvester. It gave me nightmares for weeks."

Lucy shrugged, "I didn't think it was that scary."

Lincoln's mouth almost dropped open and he was about to ask how it didn't scare her, but then remembered that she'd dealt with monsters her whole life.

"Did you ever watch Arrgh?"

Lucy shrugged, "Meh… sometimes. I mostly preferred The Vampires of Melancholia."

Lincoln wanted to stick out his tongue and pretend to gag but suppressed it. "Fair enough. We all have our preferences."

They soon walked under a huge glassed dome with the words Indianapolis Artsgarden. An entrance to the mall was only a few meters away.

Lincoln hoped it was safe in there. There was no telling what would be left, if the place had been looted and picked clean.

They entered the building and Lucy huddled a little bit closer to Lincoln as he looked around. It was surprisingly emptier than he thought. It was also a bit messy; food wrappers and trash were thrown about all over the place. There were also a few kids lumbering throughout the halls.

Lincoln gave Lucy's hand a reassuring squeeze and told her to stay close to him, not that she wasn't already. He wasn't afraid of any of these kids, they didn't look dangerous at all, they looked like your average teenage mallrat.

They walked up to directory. Lincoln could hear music playing through the mall's speakers, it was a song he'd heard before but couldn't remember the name of.

"Do you know what kind of clothes you like?" Lincoln asked Lucy.

The girl shrugged. "My mom usually bought all of my clothes. Plus, the men she'd let _visit_ me normally brought clothes with them that they'd make me wear sometimes- including the clothes I'm wearing now."

Lincoln looked at Lucy with a sympathetic expression. "If you want we can get rid of those clothes, later."

She slowly shook her head. "That's okay, I actually like these clothes."

Lincoln nodded. That pretty much answered that question. He made note of the location of a Hot Topic store and decided that that place would have to do. He wasn't that familiar with clothing stores either. He always wore the same thing every day: Orange polo shirt and blue jeans.

They reached the Hot Topic store and across from it was a Forever 21. The two stores were polar opposites. One light, one dark. Facing each other like opposing armies.

Lincoln noticed that a few kids had made themselves quite at home in that store. They set up sleeping bags and other homemade beds. The same could be said about the Hot Topic.

Just as he expected, the kids in there all reminded him of a little bit of Lucy. Only a lot of them wore hoodies, and had a bunch of piercings, some even had acne filled faces. Which made Lincoln thankful puberty was kind on him… so far.

No one said anything as he and Lucy walked in. A lot of them just stared at them while others completely ignored them, some were even smoking pot, Lincoln couldn't help but notice that one of them was the dude with the weed socks he saw crying on his skateboard a little over a week ago.

Lincoln studied the clothes and the merchandise, none of it was for him. He told Lucy to go and look around while stayed put. She nodded but was hesitant to let go of his hand.

"I'll be right here," he reassured her.

She nodded again and let go of his hand. He instantly missed the warmness of her touch, he hoped she wouldn't take long, but she really seemed to enjoy browsing the store.

Lincoln looked at the wall where all the images that were printed on the shirts were on display. That's when he noticed an image of Ace Savvy.

 _What the heck, why would Ace Savvy be on a shirt sold at Hot Topic?_ Lincoln quickly began to walk over to the wall and as he got closer he noticed that Ace Savvy looked like some kind of angsty grunge fan. Lincoln was shocked. Who would dare make Ace Savvy, the greatest super hero ever, look so-

He didn't get to finish that thought. Because he suddenly slipped on a skateboard and began to fall forward, sending the board skidding away across the floor and crashing into a stand, knocking several things over. As Lincoln was falling he tried to grab onto something but ended up dragging down another display and causing even more damage.

Lincoln lay face down on the floor as the sound of a few more things falling over and crashing to the ground filled his ears. Then the room fell silent.

He then heard light footsteps rushing over to him and then Lucy's voice.

"Lincoln are you okay?" she asked as she placed a hand gently on his shoulder.

Lincoln grumbled a response and lifted his head up. He didn't get hurt too much, he just hoped he didn't cause too much damage to the store, and that the other kids wouldn't be mad.

"You dumbass!" he heard a voice say.

Dang it.

He got to his feet as fast as he could as all the other kids in the store began to surround him. Lucy clung to Lincoln and held her head down, avoiding the scowls from the kids.

"I'm sorry," Lincoln finally said, "it was an accident,"

As he looked around he made eye contact with the kid who was most likely the one who called him a 'dumbass'. She looked Hispanic, had her hair in a ponytail, and wore a purple hoodie and jean shorts. Her fists were also clenched making it look like she wanted to pummel Lincoln.

"What the hell are you even doing in here?" she spat.

"I'm sorry, Lincoln said again. "We came here looking for clothes, and I accidentally slipped on a skateboard."

A few other kids were surveying the damage, with disinterested looks on their faces. They were most likely high.

"Maybe watch where you're going next time, dumbass." The girl said.

Lincoln truly was sorry for causing a mess, but he didn't appreciate being called a _dumbass._ A part of him knew this girl was probably on edge because of everything that had happened in the last week and was letting her emotions get the better of her, but another part wasn't going to let her talk to him like that, so he ended letting his emotions get the better of him, too and ended up saying something he regretted the moment the words left his mouth."Maybe don't leave your skateboards in the middle of the floor where people can slip on them, _dumbass."_

There were gasps all over the room and Lincoln's eyes widened before the girl even started to lunge at him. She slammed into him like a freight train, knocking him flat and Lucy away from him.

The Hispanic girl began to deliver a series of punches knocking Lincoln's head left and right. All the kids in the room began to shout as they surrounded the skirmishing kids. Lincoln caught a quick glimpse of Lucy to his left sitting on the floor her hands pressed against her ears and her teeth visibly clenched. Kids began to rush past her, violently bumping her left and right.

Lincoln had to get this girl off him, he tried to block her punches, but she was stronger than she looked. Just then, he heard some more voices and then he felt the girl being dragged off of him.

"Prima, prima!" a male's voice was shouting.

Lincoln quickly rose to his feet, which was a bad idea, he got dizzy from standing up too fast and nearly passed out. He crouched to his knees and took a few deep breaths and stood up again. Shoving past several of the surrounding kids to get to Lucy.

There she was. Still sitting on the floor, her knees against her chest and her head buried in them in a duck and cover position with her hands still pressed against her ears.

He knelt and place a hand on her knee.

She slightly lifted her head up and Lincoln offered her the warmest smile he could to try and cheer her up. Tell her that he was okay.

That's when he heard the boy's voice from before and the girl arguing in a different language. Spanish most likely. He stood back up and turned around to look at them.

The girl kept pointing at Lincoln. He didn't want to know what she was saying about him. And it looked like the boy she was talking to was trying to calm her down. He kind of looked like the girl and Lincoln wondered if they were related.

Lincoln then looked around and noticed that some more kids had shown up, most likely drawn by the commotion. They must've been the kids who were holed up in the Forever 21 store.

Soon the two kids stopped talking and the boy turned to Lincoln.

"What the heck happened?" He asked.

Lincoln told him. The boy just nodded, he seemed to be taking in the beating that the girl had given him which made Lincoln wonder how bad his face looked.

"Well, I'm sorry about my cousin," the boy said. "She can get a little rough sometimes."

"A little?" Lincoln said, which made the boy laugh even though Lincoln wasn't trying to be funny.

The boy then held up a hand and introduced himself. "My names Bobby," then he nodded to the girl who was now looking at the floor, brooding. "And her name is Ronalda, but everyone just calls her Ronnie Anne."

The girl looked up. "Don't tell him my name, idiota."

Lincoln sighed but shook Bobby's hand anyway. "My name's Lincoln."

Bobby then noticed Lucy still sitting on the floor. "And who's your friend, there?"

"Her name's Lucy. We were just here trying to get her some clothes."

"Does she not have any, already?"

Lincoln just shook his head.

"Well, I guess if she really needs some…"

The girl from before, Ronnie Anne, spoke up. "Why the fuck should we give them anything? Did you not see what he did to this place? And he called me a dumbass."

"I'm sorry about that," Lincoln said.

"Fuck you," Ronnie Anne responded.

"Ronnie…" Bobby said and gave her stern look which shut her up, but she still had a scowl on her face. Then he turned back to Lincoln "Just take what you need and go."

"Are you in charge, here?" Lincoln asked.

Bobby shrugged. "I guess I am."

Lincoln nodded and thanked him. Then he turned back to Lucy and knelt next to her.

"Lucy…"

"Let's just get out of here," she whispered.

"Lucy, it's okay. We can just- "

"I just want to leave," Lucy spoke more urgently.

"All right, all right," Lincoln spoke softly and then helped her up.

He turned to Bobby. "We're just going to leave, now."

Bobby just shrugged.

Lincoln led Lucy through the small crowd, trying his best to ignore Ronnie Anne as he passed her.

They then made their way down the hall, until the store was out of sight.

* * *

After walking for a few more minutes Lincoln and Lucy decided to sit down on a bench.

Lincoln took a deep breathe. "Well that was eventful," he joked.

Lucy just stared at the floor. Which made Lincoln wonder if looking at the ground was just her neutral pose. Like how normally people just stare ahead when they're not doing anything.

"Are you okay?" Lincoln asked.

"Are you?" Lucy said.

"What do you mean?"

"That girl did quite a job on you. Are you… hurting?"

Lincoln's face _did_ hurt, but he was trying to be strong in front of Lucy. They were here mostly for her. Lincoln didn't mind in the slightest about having to go look for things for her, he just didn't want her feeling bad about what happened to him.

"Meh, it's not so bad," Lincoln said.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "You haven't looked at yourself yet."

That kind of made Lincoln nervous. If he had bruises, then no doubt his friends would ask what had happened to him, which meant he'd have to tell them that he got beat up by a girl.

"I'll check it when I get back to the hotel. Right now, I just want to focus on finding you some new clothes."

Lucy looked back down. "You don't have to…"

"I insist," Lincoln said. "You can't wear the same thing every day."

Lucy shrugged. "Why not? There have been times where I wore the same thing for several months."

"Well, these aren't those times," Lincoln said and stood up, he spotted another clothing store that looked like it might have some things that were Lucy's style. He then offered Lucy his hand, which she took, and they continued on.

* * *

Bobby sat down on a makeshift bed and sighed. He and Ronnie Anne had argued some more as soon as the white-haired boy, and his friend were out of sight.

"Ronnie, you really need to learn to keep your emotions in check," he'd told her.

"Excuse me?" she then said. "That boy comes in here, wrecks the place and insults me and I have to keep my emotions in check? No, fuck that!"

"Ronnie- "

"And fuck you for not standing up for me," she then stormed off in the opposite direction the other kids had went.

He did feel bad. Ronnie Anne was the only family he had left, he had to look after her. He was older than her, but only by a month and fourteen days. His birthday was August 21st, which was just two days away. He'd been slightly on edge. Everyone had deduced that it was everyone fifteen and older who'd disappeared, which made him wonder what was going to happen when he turned fifteen.

A blonde girl then walked up to him shortly after he sat down.

"Are you okay, Boo-Boo Bear?" she asked.

Bobby smiled. "I am now."

The girl he said that to was his girlfriend, Lori. Her full name was Lorelei but a lot of people who read it always mispronounced it, so she just decided on the name Lori. Her birthday was August 22nd. They'd always laughed about how their birthdays were only one day apart, but now, she was just as nervous as he was.

The girl lay next to him and put an around him. "That was pretty crazy back there."

Bobby nodded. "I feel terrible for not doing more to comfort her, she's the only family I have left, that and you."

Lori smiled. "I say just give her some time to cool off, she's probably just nervous about you."

Bobby's spine tingled. Two more days… He'd have to go and talk to Ronnie Anne soon. Who knew what was going to happen to him? He was the oldest person in the mall as far as he knew, so they had no way to know what was going to happen to him once his birthday arrived.

* * *

 _All right, that's all I could think of right now. I don't exactly know where I'm going to go from here since this is as far as I planned out when I first thought of this story but I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible._

 _By the way I just wanted to say that there may be some scenes that take place inside of building that I've never been in before (like the Circle Centre Mall). So what I say is inside the buildings may not be entirely accurate._


	7. The Killer

**Alone**

 **Chapter 7: The Killer**

 **Day 12: August 20th**

* * *

It had to be well past midnight. The city was dark and quiet. Most of the kids were probably asleep, but a few night owls still roamed the streets reveling, drinking and shouting as they wandered around in random direction completely unsupervised.

One kid, however, stayed completely hidden under the cover of darkness. Biding his time, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. One hand clutched a switchblade knife, it's blade was thirty for blood. He could practically hear it calling to him.

 _Thrust me into someone's body, draw blood, let me kill._

 _Soon…_ he told the weapon, _soon._

The kid, who was a boy named Chandler stayed hidden in a parking garage near some kind of theater as groups of kids, all of them goth-looking, passed by left and right, none of them seeing him.

He waited and waited, hoping tonight wouldn't be like last night when he wasn't able to spot any prey. Then he spotted a girl walking by herself, all alone.

 _Perfect_.

He waited until she was passing the garage and then he pounced. She didn't know what was happening at first, she struggled to break free from Chandler, but she was small and slender. There was nothing she could do to escape from Chandler's grasp, he was bigger than her. He had one hand placed over her mouth, muffling her screams. He dragged her deeper into the parking garage as she fought for dear life. Chandler was quite enjoying the struggle. He couldn't help but get a boner.

Just then the girl elbowed Chandler in the stomach, causing him to loosen his grip on her. She tried to scream and flee but Chandler ended up grabbing her by her hair and slamming her head into the concrete wall of the parking garage. Knocking her into a daze. She fell on her back and Chandler stood over her, knife in hand. He'd abandoned his sexual desire and replaced it with anger.

"Stupid bitch," he spat. As he loomed over her, he took note of her appearance: She had long dark hair, a long purple dress and pale skin.

She reminded Chandler of that girl he'd seen try to kill herself. Oh, how he wished that this girl was her.

He then sat on top of her, his crotch resting on her stomach.

She looked up at him with pleading eyes. "Please…" she said, too dazed to scream for help.

Chandler then held up his knife and her eyes shifted to it. Tears then began to escape her eyes. He brought the knife down on her and prodded the tip against the side of her neck.

She froze.

Chandler then pushed the knife into her neck, watched as it slid in deeper and deeper. The girl gave a small gasp. Then Chandler began to drag the knife across her throat, leaving a red line in it's wake from which blood began to seep through. He kept dragging it until he reached the opposite end of her neck. He removed the knife and watched as the girl choked to death on her own blood, which was causing her body to jerk.

Chandler didn't break eye contact with her. He just looked at her face and into her eyes, watching the life slowly drain out of her.

She soon stopped moving and Chandler stoop up, wiped the blood from the knife, retracted the blade and stuffed it back into his pocket. Its thirst was quenched. He admired his work for several seconds; it was his first kill he didn't want to forget this moment. Then he left her body lying there as he casually strode away, most likely to seek out his next victim.

That girl was his first kill and it certainly wouldn't be his last. His main goal was to find that one girl who'd tried to kill herself as well as the boy who'd saved her life. He'd take it upon himself to finish what she couldn't.

* * *

Lincoln woke up with his arm wrapped around Lucy, yet again. He was glad to have woken up on his own accord this time and not to the sound of someone banging on his door.

It was a relatively quiet and peaceful night once he got back from the mall yesterday. Aside from getting his face nearly pounded in, it had been a pretty successful trip. They'd managed to find some clothes that Lucy liked and some other things as well, mostly items that were necessary for day to day living. Such as: soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, and some more female hygiene products.

As Lincoln and Lucy gathered all that stuff and placed it into the backpack Lincoln had brought with him, He began to wonder just how long exactly he was going to stay in this hotel. Was he going to live in it his whole life?

Of course, once they got back, his friends wouldn't stop question him about his bruised face. He had to lie and tell them that he got into a fight with some dude, he also lied and said that he won the fight.

After that, he and Lucy just hung around with his friends. He tried to get her used to hanging out with other people; they mostly just spent the day playing boards games and stuff, although she mostly just watched. Some of Lincoln's friends tried to engage in conversation with her, ask her questions. Most of the time she didn't say anything, but when she did she'd just mumble her reposes. She wasn't as open with anyone as much as she was with Lincoln. He thought about earlier that day when they were talking about their favorite movies and TV shows, how she talked like she was having a regular conversation. He hoped she'd come out of her shell soon, but he wasn't going to push her. He knew she'd been abused all her life, but he didn't know the full extent of it.

Then after the sun went down they decided to turn in. Lincoln asked Lucy if she was comfortable sleeping alone, to which she responded by asking if he could sleep with her again. To which he was happy to oblige.

As they lied there, Lucy apologized for not helping Lincoln when he was getting beat up. She sounded like she was on the verge of tears when she said that.

Lincoln assured her that it was okay, that he didn't hurt that much, which was true for the most part. But still, when he looked himself in the mirror when he got back, he physically winced. Then he got angry. The nerve of that girl, to just up and beat the crap out of some random person. Where were those lions when you needed them?

He quickly felt bad for thinking that. Then he realized that there were probably so many kids around the city who had no idea that dangerous animals were on the loose. He cursed himself for not telling anyone at the mall about that. All he could do now was hope that no one left the safety of wherever it was they were staying at.

He stayed next to Lucy for several minutes after waking up while orange-yellow light began to pour into the room through the windows.

Then he felt the need to pee. Darn his own bodily functions for making him have to get up out of the comfortable bed and lose all the warmth he and Lucy had gathered under the covers.

He reluctantly took his arm away from Lucy and could swear he could feel her try to grab onto it to keep him from leaving which made him feel worse about leaving her, even if it would only be for a few seconds, but he had to answer the call of nature.

When he got to the bathroom he checked his face in the mirror, it was still bruised but looked much better than it did yesterday but it still hurt when he poked it.

He sighed and then went over to the toilet.

Lucy lied alone on the bed, still pretty much completely asleep. But a small part of her realized that something was missing. She felt alone, like she was floating in an empty space, slowly spiraling down an empty void. She started to panic as she tried to reach out for something to grab onto but couldn't. She wanted to cry out, but her voice wasn't working. She felt herself begin to breathe heavily through her nose. She gave it her all to try and pry her eyelids open, but it felt like they were sealed shut. She then felt those hands she'd dreamt about last night wrap around her neck again which just increased her breathing as well as her heart rate.

Lincoln then walked out of the bathroom and could hear Lucy's breathing over the quiet hum of the air conditioner.

"Lucy…?" he said, curiously. Then suddenly realized that she must've been having another nightmare. "Lucy!" he hurried over to her and tried to shake her awake.

She awoke with a frightened cry and began to pant heavily.

Lincoln began to rub her arm. "It's okay," he said. "I'm right here."

Lucy looked down and began to sob quietly while Lincoln continued to try and comfort her. When she calmed down, Lincoln asked her if she had another nightmare.

Lucy shrugged. "I don't know? I was asleep, but I could sense that you weren't next to me and I must've panicked."

Lincoln slowly nodded. The fact that she panicked just because he wasn't next to her made Lincoln worry. He hoped that she'd be able to get used to him not being next to her twenty-four/seven. Sure, it had only been two days and he wasn't planning on leaving her side any time soon, he also knew that she couldn't rely on him to always be there with her. What if something were to happen to him? That didn't mean Lincoln wouldn't be there for her when he could, and right now he'd do anything he could to help her get over her troubles and trauma.

He continued to rub her arm. "Well, don't worry. I'm here, now and I won't ever leave you."

Lucy looked at him and then wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Lincoln was kind of caught of guard at first, but heck, he'd already slept in the same bed with her and spent the hole time spooning her. Why should he be surprised by a hug?

He returned the embrace by wrapping his arms around her too. He'd never actually hugged a girl that wasn't related to him before, it felt nice.

"Lincoln…?" Lucy said as though she were about to ask him a question.

"Yeah?"

There was long pause as he and Lucy stayed in the embrace. Their chests pressed together. He could feel her heartbeat.

"Is it… Is it all right if…?" she struggled to talk. "D- Do you think… we ca-" a knock at the door interrupted her.

Lincoln sighed. "Hold on a sec."

The white-haired boy reluctantly left Lucy's embrace. As soon as he got off the bed she pulled the covers up to her chest and watched as he walked to the door.

Lincoln opened the door to see his friend Liam standing there holding two tin-foil hats.

The white-haired boy just stared at the boy with the bowl cut.

"Hey there, Lincoln," Liam said.

"Uh…?" was all Lincoln could utter.

"You're not busy, are you? Because Zach is about to deliver his first sermon."

"Sermon?"

"Yep, he's gonna talk about how aliens sent by God were responsible for the disappearance of everyone fifteen and older and how their most likely watching us all right now, judging how we respond to our new environment, making sure we don't- "

"I'm going to stop you right there Liam and say: no thank you," Lincoln said, holding a hand up.

"Are you sure?" Liam responded.

"Positive."

"Well, at least take these tin foil hats."

"Why?"

"So, they can't read your mind."

"No thanks," Lincoln said.

"Are you sure?" Liam asked. "Zach says they can prevent the aliens from reading our minds and seeing any impure thoughts, which I'm sure you've had since you share your room with a girl."

Lincoln quickly snatched the hats from Liam, not because he wanted them, but because he just wanted Liam to shut up and get the hell out of here.

"Okay, thanks," Lincoln quickly said before slamming the door in his friend's face.

He turned around, threw the hats on the ground and made his way back over to Lucy.

"Sorry about that," he chuckled. "You were saying?"

Lucy looked down. "N- nothing…" she then quickly got out of the bed and excused herself to the bathroom.

Lincoln sighed and sat back down on the bed. He really hoped Lucy didn't hear anything Liam said. But of course, he knew she did. And he'd be lying if he said _that_ thought hadn't crossed his mind. But at the same time, he was only fourteen and he'd just met Lucy. He may have slept next to her and held her hand, but what were they exactly?

In the bathroom Lucy sat on the toilet and removed her used tampon and threw it away. As she continued to sit, she rested her head in her hands and exhaled. She was kind of glad she was interrupted before she could ask Lincoln what she was about to ask. She almost let her emotions get the better of her. Lincoln was the first person to ever treat her like she was a human being and she was letting her feelings towards him make her forget all about the fact that she was still menstruating. That would have been awkward, while there were times where men would still do her even when she was on her period. She doubted Lincoln would've been able to handle it.

She decided she'd wait until it was over.

* * *

Ronnie Anne stood with her forehead pressed against the glass windows in the dome of the Artsgarden. She didn't bother returning to the Hot Topic store where she'd beat up that one white-haired kid and where here cousin Bobby had reprimanded her for doing such a thing. Instead she just spent the night in this dome, brooding. Using her hoodie as a pillow.

She thought about how her cousin told her that it was wrong to hurt people. That was her cousin all right, he absolutely hated violence. Violence is what got his dad killed when he was just a baby. Ever since he was a boy he tried to be nice to everyone. It was even how he ended up with that Lori girl. When they were both eleven-years-old other kids used to tease Lori because she was pretty much an ugly duckling. She'd sit in the cafeteria at school only accompanied by one other girl named Leni who'd been friends with her since they were seven.

Bobby, being the caring person that he is, went up and said hi to her and Leni, the two girls invited him to sit with them and he did. Long story short- Lori ended up becoming infatuated with him and then after three years had passed, she'd slowly grown into a beautiful swan. All the boys who used to tease her for her looks now chased after her for them, but nope. She only had eyes for Bobby and he only had eyes for her.

Ronnie Anne was jealous about how much time he spent with Lori. Before he met her, he used to hang out a lot with her. They'd go to the arcade, watch movies and do a lot of other fun things together, too. Bobby's mom was a nurse who always worked late, and Ronnie Anne's mom was a maid. (stereotypical I know) So Bobby and Ronnie Anne would always spend time at each other's houses and do all kinds of fun activities. Life was so simple then, but now it was time for them to grow up.

"Hey…" said a voice that she instantly recognized.

Ronnie Anne turned her head slightly and saw Bobby standing a few feet away with his hands in his pockets.

"What?" she responded. "Did you come to yell at me some more?"

Bobby sighed. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

Ronnie Anne didn't say anything.

"I know you're nervous," Bobby continued, "I am too, but you can't go your whole life being mad at everything."

"Why not?" she said. "It works. No one fucks with me, I don't have to deal with anyone's shit. I can just enjoy myself and not have to worry about anything."

"But is that really what you want?" he asked.

"Yes," she said firmly.

Bobby sighed. "Ronnie… we don't know what going to happen to me once- "

"Shut up!" Ronnie demanded "You're gonna be fine."

"Am I?"

She nodded. "Yes, whatever happened, happened for a reason. We were spared, we were given a chance to continue living and we're going to be here for a long, long time." Her voice cracked at that last word.

"Prima…" Bobby said as he took another step.

Ronnie began to sit down. "You're not going anywhere, Bobby. You know why? Because you're my cousin, you're all I have. God wouldn't just take everyone else I love away and then spare you, only to take you too, shortly after. That would be cruel… it wouldn't be fair. After all the bullshit we've been through, you and I… I don't want to lose you… I can't… I won't be able to go on." She was crying now.

Bobby sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her and let her cry on him.

"I'm scared, Bobby. You're my only friend. I know I pride myself in putting up a strong front and pretend to not be bothered by anything, but the truth is, I do it because if I let people into my life they'll just end up hurting me… just like my dad did."

Bobby patted Ronnie Anne on her shoulder. Remembering how when she was eight, her father just left her and her mom in the middle of the night without saying a word. He just vanished, just like how everyone fifteen and older did too. And if Bobby just disappeared too, it would be way too painful for her to have to go through again.

They both just stayed like that until Ronnie Anne had no more tears to shed.

"It's not too late," Bobby said. "You can still make friends."

"Yes, it is," she said. "No one's gonna want to hang out with me after what I did to that one boy. Plus, if you _do_ disappear then I'll just end up disappearing shortly after. So, what would be the point of going on?"

"We don't know that?" Bobby said, and then he realized that the conversation had flipped. Now it was _him_ who was trying to convince Ronnie Anne that he was going to be okay.

Just then another kid ran into the room, one of Bobby's friends. "Bobby, did you hear?"

Bobby was annoyed that this kid was interrupting his moment with his cousin, but he spoke to the kid anyway.

"Hear what?"

"They just found the body of a dead girl in that theater right there," the kid pointed out the glass window and Bobby and Ronnie Anne looked to see he was talking about the Repertory Theatre.

"Jesus…really?" Bobby said.

"Yep," the kid answered, "she was found with her throat slit."

Bobby winced, and Ronnie Anne's eyes slightly widened. They figured with no adults around, it was bound to happen eventually. But so close to where they were staying…?

"Do they know who did it?" Bobby asked.

"Nope," the kids said as he wandered over to the window to look out into the streets.

Ronnie Anne felt sick. She'd spent all night in this dome looking down on the road below, watching kids walk by. Who knew if any of the kids she saw could've been the victim… or the killer.

"Let's get outta here," she said to Bobby, who nodded.

They both got up and walked back towards the mall. Bobby wondered if it would be for the last time.

* * *

 _I couldn't think of anything else to write this chapter, so I'll just stop here._

 _Also the girl Chandler killed was Haiku._


	8. Lights Out

**2k views! Thanks guys!**

 **Also I've changed the story's rating to an M**

* * *

 **Alone**

 **Chapter 8: Lights Out**

* * *

 **Day 13: August 21st**

"You're still here!" Ronnie Anne and Lori cried as they wrapped their arms around Bobby.

The time was 12:00 PM. Bobby was born at 2:35 AM in the morning on August 21st, 2003. Which meant he was now fifteen-years-old, nine hours and twenty-five minutes old.

They'd spent all night waiting for the clock to tick past 2:35 AM and when it did, and he didn't disappear, they waited several hours more. By high noon they were pretty certain that he wasn't going to disappear, which meant no one else was going to disappear either.

They were so happy. Nothing was going to ruin this moment.

And then the power finally went out.

* * *

"Who turned out the lights?" Rusty screamed right into Lincoln's ear which made Lincoln fall out of the chair he was sitting on. He, Lucy and his friends were playing a strategy game, and Lincoln was teamed up with Rusty who was about to whisper a plan into Lincoln's ear when go figure, the lights went out right when his mouth was less than an inch away from his ear.

Lincoln swore when his butt hit the floor and he wanted to yell at Rusty, but they had more pressing issues, such as: what _did_ happen to the lights?

Soon, more kid began to exit their rooms complaining about the power going out. Lucy went up to Lincoln as he stood back up and wrapped an arm around his.

"I think the power finally went out," Lincoln said to no one in particular.

"What?" Rusty cried. "But what are we going to do without electricity?"

Lincoln shrugged. "I don't know? But think about it: people have lived for centuries without electricity, how will _this_ be any different?"

"The difference is that we _had_ electricity," Rusty pouted.

Lincoln sighed. Looks like today the real challenge was about to begin.

"We should probably go look for some flashlights," Clyde spoke up now. "As well as some candles."

Lincoln nodded. He and his friends were currently in an unoccupied room that they'd put a few tables in so people could play board games and stuff. Sunlight shining through a window offered the only source of light. If Lincoln had to guess he'd say it was around noon or something. meaning they'd have maybe seven hours or so before dusk.

"Where are going to find those at?" Rusty asked.

"I know, Zach has a ton of candles," Liam spoke. "He always lights them when he delivers his sermons."

"Do you think he'll lend us some?" Clyde asked.

"Wouldn't hurt to ask," Liam shrugged.

"Where is he now?" Lincoln asked.

"He's probably in one of those rooms where hey have those business meetings," Liam told them.

And with that they all agreed to go to the floor below them and talk to Zach. All of them being: Lincoln, Lucy, Clyde, Liam, Rusty and his younger brother Rocky.

Lincoln really wasn't looking forward to talking to Zach. Ever since everyone disappeared he wouldn't shut up about aliens. Aliens this, aliens that. Lincoln was willing to bet that Zach was going to blame the power finally going out on aliens, too.

As they walked they passed several kids who were beginning to freak out about how there wasn't any more power. Electricity had been what separated humans from the animals, which meant they were now no better than a mouse living inside a wall.

Lucy grabbed Lincoln's hand and held it firmly. Lincoln looked at her and gave her a reassuring smile. Ever since yesterday she'd been really quiet, which wasn't unusual, but she was even quiet around him, which worried him. He'd make sure to talk to her about it later.

They soon reached a huge room which was where Zach spent most of his time; there were several windows, but their curtains were drawn which muffled the sunlight from entering. There were also a few lanterns lit here and there.

"Ah, welcome," Zach called out when Lincoln and the others entered the room. He stood behind a podium watching a kid paint something on a canvas, and there were a bunch of younger kids scattered throughout the room also. Lincoln was surprised that Zach had managed to gather quite an audience even if ninety percent of them were younger than nine. "I've been expecting you."

Lincoln wanted to challenge that claim, but kept his mouth shut seeing as though they were about to ask Zach for a favor.

Rusty was the one who spoke, since he was closest with Zach before the world changed. "Zach, buddy, the power went out. Do you think- "

"That the aliens were responsible?" Zach interrupted. "Yes, I do."

A bunch of kids perked up when he said the word 'aliens' and began to get up and gather around him.

 _Here we go._ Lincoln thought.

Before anyone could say anything, Zach continued to speak. "Aliens have technology that is far superior to ours. In fact, it's so powerful that it can drain anything here on earth of its power and…"

Lincoln rolled his eyes and shut off his brain to Zach's ramblings. He was going to wait until he was finished spewing his nonsense until he said something that piqued his interest.

"…They've even been spotted here on Earth, they've graced us with their presence on this very planet. Some kids have bared witness to their appearance and have been willing to describe it, which is what our friend Henry here has been doing- painting what the witnesses have described.

As luck would have it the boy named Henry was putting the finishing touches on his painting.

"Done!" he excitedly announced.

"Then present it," Zach said, "Show the world the members of God's army."

Lincoln had to see this. He figured it would be good for a laugh.

The boy held up the picture and Lincoln had to admit it was pretty impressive for a drawing done by an eight-year-old.

The picture was of a dark, brown humanoid figure with two pitch black holes for eyes, no nose and a mouth that bared clenched teeth; veins were visible through its brown, dead-looking skins and so were its bones.

Not even five seconds after looking at the picture, Lincoln felt Lucy's grip loosen on his hand and she collapsed to the ground.

"Lucy!" Lincoln cried as he knelt next to her.

Lincoln's friends just stared at the girl as other kids began to take notice, including Zach.

"She has gazed into the eyes of our _rulers_ and it has gazed into her soul as well…" He continued to ramble.

Lincoln completely ignored Zach's made up speech, as he gently shook Lucy awake. She began to shake and pant uncontrollably as soon as she woke up.

"Lucy, what - "

Lucy began to scream, kick and flail her arms, as Lincoln continued to try and calm her down, but she was an absolute wreck. The louder she screamed, the louder Zach tried to rise his voice over hers.

Rusty tried to tell Zach to shut up, that he was scaring the girl, but Zach wouldn't listen, he began to talk about how the girl was getting the fear of God put into her.

Lincoln and Clyde then helped Lucy to her feet and practically carried her out of the room, passing a few startled, and snickering kids. Lincoln could still kind of hear Zach's voice echoing into the halls as they walked further away from the room.

Eventually they reached the lobby of the hotel and Lucy's screams turned to sobs. Lincoln sat her down on a chair and waited for her to stop crying. A lot of the kids loitering in the lobby quickly walked away as Lucy sat there and sobbed.

Lincoln rested a hand on her shoulder, while Clyde just stood around awkwardly, visibly uncomfortable. Lincoln dismissed his friend and Clyde said good-bye before following the lead of the other kids who had exited the lobby.

Lincoln waited for Lucy to stop crying. Somewhere in the back of Lucy's mind, she was aware that Lincoln was waiting for her to stop crying again, patiently, not rushing her at all. He was willing to sit there for several hours, just so he could do his best to cheer her up, even though he'd known her for less than a week. That made her love him even more. But for the moment, she couldn't get that _thing_ out of her head. The thing in the painting looked exactly like the thing she'd seen under the water and in her dreams. The scariest part was: she was no longer the only one who'd seen it. What did it mean? Was it real, after all?

Several minutes later, she stopped crying but was still a wreck. It was so surreal; the fact that that thing was out there… somewhere.

Lincoln asked Lucy if she was okay and Lucy figured it was time for the truth to come out.

"Can we please go back to your room?" she asked.

* * *

"So, do you think you'll be able to tell me why you… got scared like that?" Lincoln asked. He and Lucy both rested on her bed in Lincoln's room. The window was opened slightly since there was no longer any air conditioning and the curtains were drawn back a little to let some light in.

Lucy sighed, trying to find the right words for what she was about to say.

"Lincoln… that… thing that that boy was talking about…"

Lincoln nodded. "It was a pretty creepy painting. Nothing to be ashamed of."

Lucy slowly shook her head. "I saw it," she said bluntly.

Lincoln just sat and stared at Lucy for a few seconds before speaking. "Saw what?"

More silence.

"The thing in the drawing. I saw it. When I jumped into the river, before I passed out, I saw it swimming right towards me."

Lincoln continued staring at her with an uneasy look on his face.

"…And when I fell asleep my first night here. It was in my dreams." She told Lincoln about her dream and once she was finished Lincoln was absolutely stupefied.

The white-haired boy tried desperately to search for a logical explanation, but this was all just too much. Too big to be a coincidence. Lucy saw something in the river and whatever it was, wasn't human. Before this moment he thought that all he had to worry about were those lions that had escaped from the zoo and living from one day to the next. But now, add this to the fact that they had to live without power- it was going to be an outright fight for survival.

"…Lincoln…?" Lucy said after he didn't say anything for over a minute.

"Huh...?"

Lucy's face scrunched into a look of pure fear. "What does this mean?"

"I have no idea," he answered.

Lucy began to cry some more, and Lincoln then shuffled next to her and let her lean against him and wrap her arms around him.

"It's okay," Lincoln said softly, even though he wasn't sure if it was; he was scared too, now.

"Lincoln…" she finally said once she stopped crying again.

"Yeah?"

"You're not going to leave me, are you?"

"Huh…? What do you mean?"

"Just tell me that you'll never leave me. That you'll always be here."

"I… I'll never leave you," he said.

"Do you promise?" she asked, looking up to his face and into his eyes. Her mouth slightly open.

"I promise," he said.

And then, without warning Lucy kissed him.

Lincoln suddenly felt weak and light-headed, it was so sudden. But it felt nice. And as much as he wanted to give into it, he pulled his head away once Lucy stuck her tongue in his mouth and reached for his crotch.

"Lucy…" he said after he pulled away. Her mouth was still slightly open, and she looked a little bit surprised even though Lincoln couldn't see her eyes behind her bangs. "What are you doing?"

Lucy closed her mouth and looked down. "I… I like you, Lincoln… a lot. You're the only person who's ever made me feel safe. I just wanted to…" she was too embarrassed to finish, instead she just apologized.

"No, no don't be sorry," Lincoln said as he placed his hands on her shoulders. "It's okay, I was just… surprised, that's all."

Lucy just continued to look down. She was finally off her period, so she'd decided that today would be the day. Then another thought came to mind. "There used to be a doctor that would _visit_ me sometimes. My mom always made sure people used protection when they used me. Last time he checked up on me he said I didn't have any…" she couldn't finish that sentence.

"That's not it, either," he assured her. "It's just that… we just met… and sure we've slept in the same bed and held hands and all but…" The part of Lincoln's mind that screamed at him a few nights ago for trying to get out of sleeping next to Lucy was now throwing a tantrum at the fact that he was trying to get out of getting physical with her. "Believe me I really want to, but we're both fourteen…and…"

"I'll be fifteen in October," Lucy said, as if that would help.

"Oh, your birthdays in October, too?" he said, trying to change the subject.

She nodded and told him it was the thirteenth.

Lincoln told her that his was the second.

More awkward silence.

"My mom had when she was young…" Lincoln said. "…She wanted to be a dentist but had to settle for becoming a dental assistant… because of me."

Lucy looked at Lincoln, he was the one looking down now.

"She was such a nice lady, but in her dark moments. When she drank, or if I misbehaved, she'd blame me for ruining her life. Said she could've had a good life, did fun things, traveled the world, met a nice guy and raised a family with him. But she had to settle for me."

Lucy slowly nodded. She got what Lincoln was trying to say. Then she decided to share something else with Lincoln. "Whenever someone was doing me, I'd often disassociate from reality. I'd let my mind wander to a place where I was safe. Where no one could hurt me. It was often a wide, open field. Nothing but green for miles, except for one single tree. And sitting under that tree, waiting for me, was a person. I could never see that person's face, but his mere presence made me feel safe and secure and once I came back to reality, I often wondered if the person in my daydream was out there somewhere, if he was going to rescue me. That single thought was the only thing that kept me going. And then when everyone disappeared I thought he'd never show up, but he did. _You're_ that person, Lincoln. You saved me. You're the only person who has ever made me feel loved… and… I just want to love you, too…"

Tear drops were beginning to slowly slide down her pale cheeks, looking like clear liquid crystals.

Lincolns stomach was fluttering rapidly. His brain was screaming at him to hold her, which he did. He wrapped his arms around her and held her like she was the most precious thing in the world. And at that moment, even though he'd just met her, he truly felt like she was the most precious thing in the world to him, which let his feelings get the better of him. He gently lifted her head up by placing his fingers under her chin, and then they both just stared longingly at each other. And then Lincoln slowly leaned in and kissed her.

It started as just a kiss but then their tongues began to explore each other's mouths.

Eventually Lincoln had to stop and catch his breath. And while he did that Lucy began to take off her dress and shirt, revealing a simple black t-shirt bra.

"Lucy," Lincoln let out a small embarrassed cry.

"What…?" she simply said. "Aren't we doing this?"

Lincoln's eyes studied her body as it shimmered in the sunlight that shone through the rooms window, she was skinny and thin, and covered in marks and scars as well, which broke Lincoln's heart.

"Uh… yeah, sorry," he chuckled.

Lucy then began to undo her bra straps and Lincoln's eyes quickly looked away. As if he shouldn't have been watching her undress.

"Lincoln."

"Huh?"

"It's okay to look."

"…I know…" he said, his face crimson red.

Then after another moment of awkward silence he slowly looked at her and gazed upon her body, she was only wearing black panties and socks now. Her breasts were now completely exposed, her arms were at her side, so she could give Lincoln a good view of her chest.

Lincoln's mouth dropped open and his stomach and nether regions began to stir like mad.

Lucy's breasts were perfect and well developed, even though there were marks around them as well, which pissed Lincoln off. How dare anyone lay a hand on them and leave marks on them. Lincoln hoped that all the people who had ever hurt Lucy- where ever they were- were in a place worse than hell.

Lucy just sat at the headboard of the bed, waiting for Lincoln, who was sitting in the middle of the bed, to do something. But all Lincoln could do was swallow a lump that had formed in his throat.

Lucy sighed, not an exasperated sigh, she knew that Lincoln was new at this. She then scooted closer to Lincoln and reached her fingers under the hem of his shirt, her fingernails grazed against his skin and sent waves of shivers throughout his soul. She began to slowly lift his shirt up, which wasn't fast enough for Lincoln, so he helped take it off as well and threw it aside. Now he just had to get his damn pants off. Thank goodness he wasn't wearing a belt. He didn't need anything else to delay this moment. He slid them off fast like they were on fire.

Now he and Lucy just sat on the bed in only their undergarments. Now it was Lucy who studied Lincoln's body; he was scrawny, but she thought his body looked beautiful.

He then scooted closer to her and began to slowly lift his hands up towards her, she held her chest out as if to give him permission to touch her breasts. Even so, he still looked at her before his hands made contact, to which she nodded her head.

Her breath hitched when he touched her. His touch was soft and gentle. So caring. She closed her eyes and leant her head back as Lincoln continued to caress her breasts, he even started to kiss them, which couldn't help but make Lucy let out a small giggle in the back of her throat.

Then she slowly started to lie down on her back, resting her head on a pillow. Lincoln took this as his cue to take off her panties. He wrapped his fingers under the waistband and slid them down her legs exposing her vagina. It looked beautiful and delicate, even though it was also surrounded by marks as well, which made Lincoln's heart skip a beat.

He took her socks off too after taking her panties off and she was now completely naked. Lincoln was still in his underwear; his penis was leaving a noticeable bulge. He quickly took care of that and took off his tighty-whities, leaving himself completely exposed to Lucy.

He looked down at her body and she looked up at his, there was no more delaying it, now.

He slowly crawled on top of her and slowly directed his rod to her opening, when it made contact he looked at her again and she nodded again. He mounted her, she let out another small gasp as he slowly and gently slid inside her.

It was the greatest feeling in the world for both of them. They then continued to kiss deeply and affectionately as their bodies began to rock back and forth.

Eventually they both had to break the kiss to catch their breaths, Lincoln then began to pepper Lucy's neck with kisses. Which made her continue to moan with pleasure.

This caused Lincoln's privates to begin to stir.

 _Not yet,_ he begged his body, _please, not yet._

But the more he felt himself beginning to swell the faster he rocked his body. Causing Lucy to moan out even more.

All her life people had used her body for their own needs, and whenever they did, she'd shut herself off and not feel anything as they intruded in her body. But right now, she could feel Lincoln inside of her, she'd welcomed him in there and when it was with someone you really cared about, it was the greatest feeling in the world.

She could feel Lincoln begin to tingle, she knew what that meant- he was about to reach his climax. She then began to rock her hips faster, so she could reach hers as well.

Their breathing began to become more intense too, Lincoln reach over with one hand and grabbed Lucy's hand and they both squeezed each other's hand's affectionately. Then he reached with his other hand and moved Lucy's bangs that were obscuring her eyes; here eye lids were shut, but when she sensed Lincoln's gaze on her she slowly opened them, revealing the most beautiful light brown eyes he'd ever seen.

He couldn't contain it anymore, and with one final thrust, he let loose inside of Lucy, filling her with his love.

They both let out a low, soft moan as they stared into each other's eyes. Lincoln rocked a few more times as he continued to spew inside of Lucy and then they both went limp. Lincoln lied down on his side and moved the covers over him and Lucy and they just continued to lie there, holding each other for several minutes.

Soon, Lincoln's mind began to clear, and he was hit with the sudden realization that he just had sex. He looked down under the covers to see his and Lucy's legs still intermingled, and that he was still inside of her. He removed himself from her and heard her breath hitch as he watched some fluid leak from her vagina.

Lucy's grasp on Lincoln tightened slightly, as if she didn't ever want him to leave her. He gave her a reassuring rub on her back, as if to tell her that he was never going to leave her.

"I just have to go to the bathroom," he said.

"Please hurry back," she said, her voice sounding tired and needy.

He got out of bed and went into the bathroom. Still naked, he flipped the light switch to the _on_ position, but the lights didn't turn on.

 _Oh, right…_

Lincoln left the door open a smidge so light could leak through, and as he began to pee his mind began to race some more.

He just had sex…with a girl he'd only just met. I mean, sure, there was no telling how much time anyone had left now. Would they, disappear once they turned fifteen? Then he began to get nervous. They didn't use any protection.

What if…? I mean, Lincoln was only fourteen, he still had his whole life ahead of him, but at the same time, what exactly _could_ he do with his life. All he and his friends had done for the last few days was, eat, sleep and hang around the hotel all day. He'd only left two times so far; to go to the zoo and the mall.

He figured they'd all have to leave again eventually to go and look for some more food. Luckily with so many people gone, there was still a lot of food left, but it wouldn't last forever, though. They'd have to learn to grow food and stuff like that.

Lincoln soon, realized that he had finished peeing and had just been standing there for a few seconds, now. He flushed the toilet and was hesitant to walk back into the room and face Lucy again. He had no idea what he was even going to say to her.

He left he bathroom and looked at Lucy; she was sitting upright on the bed now with a far away look on her face, but as soon as Lincoln came into view she slowly turned and looked at him.

And smiled.

For the first time in her life, it was a genuine, honest-to-goodness smile.

And that made Lincoln smile, too. Then he noticed her head turn down slightly. Lincoln looked down at his exposed penis, floppy and spent. He blushed and covered it with his hands.

Lucy let out a small laugh, and Lincoln couldn't help but laugh, too. All his previous worries, forgotten.

This was a moment neither of them would forget. A moment that nothing could possibly ruin.

* * *

David Winston sat on a couch in the Governor's Office in the Indiana State House in front of a desolate fireplace. He stared at the unburned logs that currently resided in it as sunshine shone through the window, offering the only source of light. Portraits of men that must've been painted during the 1800's hung on the walls; David Winston was a little embarrassed to admit that he had no idea who they were.

Also in the room was a blonde girl named Carol Pingrey. She wore a purple shirt and a brown skirt with a checkered pattern. She wore a bored expression on her face as well. She and David Winston had both arrived at the State House at the same time, both of them had decided to live here because they thought it would represent authority. But there can't be two leaders at once. They both knew they'd have to battle it out eventually, but for the moment they just sat alone in the office.

"So, why did you call me in here, David?" Carol asked, as if she had better things to do.

"I told you to call me Winston," Winston said. He didn't like people calling him by his first name, it was too personal if you asked him. He thought if someone referred to you by your last name, it meant you had authority over them, like how you call a teacher or a boss by their last name.

Carol just repeated her previous question, only this time she added emphasis on the name _David_.

It angered Winston, but he couldn't show any anger in front of Carol, as it would be showing weakness.

"In case you haven't noticed, Carol. The Power went out- "

"You don't say?" she sarcastically interrupted.

"And," Winston went on, ignoring the interruption, "without power, kids are most likely going to end up losing their minds."

"What do you mean?" Carol asked, now she was listening.

"Think about it, electricity was one of the big things that separated us from the animals, it secured our role as the dominant species of the earth, and without it- we may as well be cavemen. Therefore, it will only be a matter of time before all the kids around here resort back to their natural states: animalistic states. Chaos is bound to ensue."

That thought made Carol nervous, but she tried not to look too bothered in front of David.

"So, what exactly are _we_ supposed to do about it?"

Winston didn't like the fact that she used the word _we_ , but he ignored it for now.

"I think it's time someone took control of the situation."

"How?" Carol asked.

Winston smiled and stood up. Walked over to a desk and opened one of it's drawers. Inside of it was a locked box. A box that Winston had the key to. He opened the box and inside of it was a gun. A Glock 19 to be exact.

Carol visibly flinched when he showed it to her.

"Where on earth did you get that?" she cried, too nervous to stand up from the couch and leave the room.

"My dad owned a gun store," Winston proudly announced. "I have several more of these things hidden away." He looked down the iron sights of the gun.

"Why didn't you tell me that sooner?" Carol asked.

"I didn't want to lay all my cards on the table," Winston said. "I was going to wait for the perfect moment to strike. And right now seems as good as any."

Carol wanted to gulp. "Why are you telling me this?" she asked.

"I want to join forces with you, Carol," he said. "If we work together, your group and mine, we can easily take control over this city."

Of course, that was partly the reason, another big reason was that Winston liked Carol. Always had. Ever since they were little. Even though, he always tried to make it look like he didn't. He wanted to use his ultimate authority to get her to like him back. She'd be like his queen, only he still wanted to be the big kahuna once it came to who was _really_ in charge.

"So, what do you say, Carol. Shall we put my plan into action?"

A small part of Carol's mind was telling her not to trust this boy, but a bigger part of her was totally in love with the thought of getting all the other kids to bow down to her.

She smiled. "Yes, we should."

* * *

 _I hope you guys enjoyed the love-making scene. It was my first time writing a scene like that so I hope it was good enough. While I do detest Loudcest, I figured since Lincoln and Lucy aren't related in this story that that would make it okay._

 _Also, the "aliens" that have been mentioned in this story are supposed to look like the ReDead from **The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.**_


	9. Winston's Speech

**corndogman: Chandler is a lone wolf.**

 **Shadowmaster91: Don't worry. There won't be any supernatural elements in this story, besides the creatures that Lucy saw, but those things won't appear for a while. And I don't think Lincoln will end up getting banished. No one is going to leave the city.**

* * *

 **Alone**

 **Chapter 9: Winston's Speech**

* * *

 **Day 15: August 23rd**

It was twelve o'clock in the afternoon. The sun was high in the cloudless sky. Two boys where currently walking on a sidewalk. One had black hair and a red shirt and blue jeans. The other one had long sandy blond hair and a yellow baseball shirt with blue sleeves.

They were both holding M1 Carbine rifles that Winston had given them, while other kids were handed different guns. Everyone was excited to be given guns, but unfortunately for them, Winston had only given everyone a single bullet for their guns. Which was pretty smart on his part; it would be dumb to hand some random kid a fully loaded gun. With only one bullet no one would want to risk wasting the ammo. He'd only given everyone a single bullet because he thought firing one shot would be enough to shut other kids up if any of them tried to attack the kids with the guns.

The two of them had only been walking for a few seconds but were already sweating thanks to the temperature.

"I sure hope Winston knows what the heck he's doing," the boy with the black hair said as he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.

The blond-haired kid shrugged. "Who cares? I just love that I get to hold a gun."

"A gun with only one bullet."

"It's not like any of the kids will know," the blond kid said.

They soon reached their first destination: a hotel close to the State Building.

Winston had sent a bunch of kids in several directions from the State House. Their jobs were to convince as many kids as they could to congregate at the capitol building where he was going to give a speech and basically announce himself as leader. The guns were simply for persuasive purposes.

The two boys entered the hotel and a few random kids were loitering in the lobby, all stopped what they were doing and looked at the armed boys, taking note of their guns.

"Don't worry," the dark-haired kid said, lowering his rifle and raising his hand. "We just want a moment of your time."

* * *

Lincoln stood in the lobby surrounded by several other curious kids with one arm wrapped protectively around Lucy. It had been over a day since he and her had had sex. They stayed in their room most of the day after that because Lucy was still pretty shaken up by the painting she saw. The day after that was spent mostly socializing with other kids and trying to get Lucy more well acquainted with the other kids, but she was still extremely shy around the others.

The two new arrivals had introduced themselves and were currently explaining themselves.

"We came here from the statehouse," the dark-haired boy said. "There's a boy there named Winston who plans on giving a speech and he thinks it would be best if you all gathered there."

"Why should we?" a kid asked. Obviously, all of the kids were hesitant to follow orders by kids they'd never met before who were also holding guns.

"Because this Winston fellow is a smart kid. He has some things that I'm pretty sure you'd all like to hear."

"Like what?" another kid asked.

"He has plans on how to keep this place in shape, how all the kids in the city can work together and try and rebuild society."

"No thanks," One boy said. "I'm pretty happy just staying put right here."

"Maybe you are now, but what happens in a year or so when all the amenities this place has to offer runs out? What will you do then?"

The boy shrugged. "I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

" _Or_ we can all start working together now and get a head start on restarting society."

All of the kids began to murmur with each other as the two boys just stood there and waited for their replies.

Lincoln looked at Clyde who was also standing right next to him.

"What you think?" the white-haired boy asked his friend.

Clyde shrugged. "It's not like we got anything better to do."

Before Lincoln could respond they heard a boom come from outside.

 _What could that be?_ Almost everyone in the room thought.

The two boys with the guns looked at each other. They hoped no one had fired their guns at someone.

Turns out it wasn't a gunshot they heard but a firework going off.

Winston had a few kids set off some huge display fireworks they'd found to get the attention of surrounding kids. The plan was to draw kids from far away, who kids from his group wouldn't be able to come into contact with for a while. And it worked, soon kids from several blocks away began to converge on the capitol building.

About an hour later several kids of all ages were gathered around one of the entrances of the statehouse; the direction facing North Senate Avenue. Lincoln was surprised that so many kids had shown up. Of course, the guns and the fireworks probably played a huge part in it.

As he scanned the faces in the crowd he saw none other than the twins he'd had the displeasure of meeting at the JW Marriott building, how Winston's kids had managed to get them to come out was beyond him. And worse than that he also saw those kids from the mall, specifically that Ronnie Anne chick. She had her purple hoodie tied around her waists and wore a white tank top. She looked completely uninterested in the current situation as she stood next to her cousin Bobby.

Lincoln quickly looked away before she could see him- or at least make eye contact with him because let's be honest: you didn't need eyes like a hawk to see him and his white hair from afar.

He then turned to Lucy who had her head hung down. It really upset Lincoln that she always stood like that. Hopefully that would change someday. They were holding each other's hands and he gave hers a reassuring squeeze. She looked up at him and he smiled at her. She gave him a little grin in return. Which was good, but he was hoping to get her to smile like she did after they had sex the other day. Or was it making love? Did he love Lucy? He cared about her a lot, sure, but did he _love_ her? He thought about it. He remembered her saying that she liked him a lot, but she didn't mention anything about _love_. He then wondered if she could ever love again.

He hoped he wasn't being too selfish by being unable to confirm to himself if he loved her because he was all she had at this point. Plus, can you really _love_ a girl when you're only fourteen, even if there aren't any adults around? He then thought about the way she smiled and how happy it made him feel, can someone who you don't love yet smile make you feel that way? He didn't think so. What would Lucy do if he told her that he loved her? Would it put her off?

 _Dang it, Lincoln. It's only been five days. You can wait a little bit longer before saying anything._

Then again Romeo and Juliet only knew each other for four days before killing themselves over each other.

Then again, again, that was back in, what, the 1300's? When you could die unexpectedly at any moment. But of course, with no adults around or anyone to take care of the kids right now, _they_ could die at any moment.

There was also Jack and Rose from Titanic, who loved each other after only knowing each other for only a few days.

But those were all works of fiction- this was real life.

Now he sighed out loud.

Clyde turned to Lincoln. "You okay, man?"

Lincoln nodded. "Yeah, I'm just wishing this Winston kid would hurry up already."

A few minutes later, as soon as Winston was satisfied with the number of kids who'd show up, he finally stepped up to where two sets of stairs met the entrance of the building and one of his kids handed him a megaphone.

He spoke into it. "Hello everyone. I'm sure you're all wondering why I've gathered you hear."

No one said anything. Then the kids who handed him the megaphone stepped up, apologized and flipped a switch on the horn and reminded him to press the button on the grip when he spoke into it as well.

"I know how to use a megaphone, Mike," Winston spat.

Mike just casually held up his hands and took a step back.

Winston then turned back to the crowd. He tried not to notice all of their puzzled and unamused faces. Instead, he just repeated what he'd said a few seconds ago. This time he was positive the kids heard him; it was a powerful megaphone after all.

"Firstly, let me introduce myself." He continued. "My name is David Winston and I've gathered you here to make some propositions."

No one in the crowd spoke. They all just stood around with bored, bewildered and disparaging looks on their faces. Winston knew he'd have to make quite a rousing speech to get a bunch of kids and teenagers to fall in line behind him.

"Now, I know what most of you are thinking: who the heck is this guy and why should we listen to what he has to say? Well, I'm here to tell you that you should because we're all going to have to work together if we want to rebuild society and the first thing that need's to be done is choose a person to lead, and luckily for you I've decided to be that leader."

Lincoln wanted to laugh- some kids standing around him actually did. Why the heck did this dude want to be in charge of a bunch of kids?

A lot of kids yelled up insults at Winston, but he took it in stride.

"Why should you be in charge?" A kid yelled up.

"Do any of _you_ want to be in charge?" Winston asked into the megaphone.

No one answered.

"Exactly," he said. "You guys don't know the kind of sacrifices I'm making by volunteering to be in charge."

"No one asked you to," another kid shouted.

"Exactly," Winston repeated. "I could just stay inside and wait for food to run out and lawlessness to ensure- heck the power's already gone out. Who knows when the day will come when we all lose our minds and decide to start getting at each other's throats or starve to death once we run out of food. I hear there's already been one murder around here."

There were some murmurs among the crowd.

"It happened right over there," Winston nodded his head to the Repertory Theatre. "Is that what we want this world to turn into? A world where kids kill other kids?"

No one said anything.

"Exactly," Winston said for the third time. "Which why my first proposal is to put together a police force to patrol the streets. Prevent kids from doing bad things, like murder."

Winston then looked to his side and acknowledged a tall, wiry kid standing beside him. "Everyone, this is Lance Bowman. His dad used to be a police captain, so he is going to be in charge of the police force."

The kid lifted one hand up in a wave.

"Next order of business is the fire department," Winston then pointed to another kid with short brown hair. "This is Steve West. His dad used to be a fire captain, so he'll be in charge of the fire department."

Lincoln couldn't believe what he was hearing. This dude was only giving people jobs because it's what their dads used to do. Sheesh. If he knew Lincoln's mom was a dental assistant would he make him clean people's teeth?

"While the police and fire department have been set up," Winston continued, "there's still the matter of doctors. I've sent a few of my smarter people to go and search hospitals and stuff to go see if they can gather medical supplies and other kids who know a thing or two about medicine."

Lincoln shook his head. With a bunch of kids in charge, any kid with a fever was as good as dead if you asked him.

"What if this is a just one giant waste of time," A kid shouted.

"Yeah," another one added. "What if we disappear just like everyone else when we turn fifteen as well?"

Before Winston could answer that, another person spoke up.

"That's not going to happen, man. Me and my girlfriend both turned fifteen and we're still here."

Lincoln and everyone else turned to see Bobby standing with a hand raised.

Winston smiled. "There you have it folks. We're going to be here for a long time, so I suggest we make the most of it."

Then he switched gears. "Now, I know there are some stuff that I haven't covered. One big thing being how we're going to grow our own food and stuff. We'll if there's anyone who knows a thing or two about agriculture, please come and see me as soon as possible."

Lincoln felt like laughing again. This Winston kid sounded like a teacher when he said that. He then looked over to his friend Liam who used to live on a farm. He wondered if he knew anything about agriculture. Liam was talking to one of his friends, maybe his friend was telling him to go talk to this Winston kid.

Just when everyone thought this little gathering was over. Lincoln heard a voice that made him cringe and Lucy squeeze his hand a little.

"Wait, man! Aren't you forgetting something?" Zachary yelled loud enough for the entire street full of kids to hear.

Everyone stopped and looked at him. His hair was a mess and it looked like he hadn't slept in days. He was also wearing a robe that was way too big for him.

Lincoln hoped he was wearing clothes underneath it.

Winston tried his best not to look annoyed at the kid. Instead he raised his megaphone back up and said. "I'm sorry. What am I forgetting?"

"You're not mentioning those who are responsible for everyone disappearing."

Kids all around the yard began to whisper to each other. What the heck was this kid talking about?

"And who would that be?" Winston asked.

 _Don't say it. Don't say it._ Lincoln wanted to shout.

"The aliens, of course,"

Several kids began to burst out laughing, but Zach was completely unfazed. Lincoln looked at Lucy who continued to hang her head down, which made him turn back and give Zach a harsh look even though Zach was looking nowhere near him, instead he was making his way towards the statehouse, a bunch of kids were stepping out his way as he lumbered on. A few younger kids who Zach had managed to convince that aliens were responsible followed close behind him like he was some kind of prophet.

Zach went on and on about aliens as he stepped closer to the stairs that led to where Winston was standing. Winston was starting to get angry, if this weirdo got any closer he was going take out his gun that he had hidden in his suit pocket and shoot him.

Zach set one foot on the steps and Winston began to reach when suddenly, another kid spoke up.

"I'm more concerned about the lions."

All eyes suddenly turned to another boy in a red and white striped shirt. Lincoln recognized him from the hotel; his name was Jake.

"What do you mean, lions?" Winston asked through his megaphone.

Lincoln turned to his friend, Clyde and saw that he was already sweating and had a worried expression on his face.

"I mean someone set the lions from the zoo free and now they could be anywhere."

A bunch of kids cried out with worry and began to look around nervously, as if the lions would suddenly appear out of nowhere and attack them.

Winston spoke up again. "Don't worry, everyone. That's why I put together a police force: so my boys could take care of stuff like this."

Lance looked at Winston with a dubious expression on his face. When Winston appointed him as 'Chief of Police' he thought he'd only have to deal with a few rowdy kids, not 400 lbs. wild animals. But he didn't say anything. He didn't want to look like a coward in front of everyone.

"And what about the person who murdered our friend?" An upset goth looking girl cried. "They could still be out there."

A bunch of other kids began to voice their agreement.

Again, Winston tried his best to calm them down. "Don't worry, ladies and gentlemen, if you put me in charge I'll make sure you're all safe and that killers will never wander this street, like the person who killed that girl.

He then paused and let his face get serious. "Whoever killed that girl, if you're listening, you'd better leave town, now because if- no, _when_ we find you, I'm going to kill you myself." Winston then took out his Glock and pretended to aim and fire at someone.

A few kids actually cheered and applauded him when he said this. It's like they were taking him seriously.

Lincoln had heard enough; this kid was crazy.

"Let's get out of here," he told Lucy and Clyde and they began to disperse with a few other kids as Winston finished his speech.

When Lincoln and his friends arrived in downtown on the day this all kicked off, he hoped someone would try and take control of the situation, but now it looked he was having a _'Be careful what you wish for,'_ moment.

He just wanted to go back to the hotel and… actually he had no idea what he was going to do when he got back, he just wanted to get away from here.

* * *

Chandler was there. He'd heard everything. No one suspected him though, he looked like your average fourteen-year-old. The knife he'd used to kill that girl was still in his pocket. He was dispersing next to another group of kids, trying to blend in when he saw them: the white-haired boy and the girl who'd tried to kill herself. His step nearly faltered, he didn't think he'd find them this soon. He tried to look as casual as possible as he stalked a few yards behind them, trying to look like he was part of a different group of kids. He saw that they were holding hands. Were they a couple, now? Is that why the boy saved the girl, so she'd give him some pussy? His heart was pounding rapidly, no doubt this is what an animal felt like when it spotted its prey. He watched as the boy and girl reached their destination: a hotel building.

Chandler causally strode by and looked in to catch a quick glimpse of them inside. As much as he wanted to storm in there and slit both their throats, he'd have to wait. Bide his time. Hope that the perfect moment to strike would present itself eventually. He wanted to come back later tonight, but at the same time, he couldn't go back on the prowl so soon, not after several people were aware that a killer was on the loose.

 _Soon…_

* * *

 _Sometime earlier_ …

Lisa Miller resided in a hospital. She'd spent the last two weeks gathering medical supplies with other kids and studying all there was to know about being a doctor. That's what Lisa wanted to be when she was older: a doctor. She was already a very smart girl. Just like her parents were smart as well. The thought of her parents upset her though. They were gone just like everyone else over fifteen, and the worst part was: she was pretty sure they were responsible for everyone disappearing.

The year leading up to before everyone disappeared, her parents had taken so much time off their jobs to teach her all kinds of survival tactics. Everyday of her life felt like an episode of Survivorman. Her parents were also about to take her far away from this city. Someplace desolate, but apparently whatever happened, happened sooner than they expected. As much as Lisa wanted to leave this city- she couldn't bring herself to.

Indianapolis was her home, and everyone else here needed her. None of them knew as much about medicine and how to treat injuries as she did. No way she'd be able to help anyone if she were in a secluded area in the middle of the forest somewhere.

A kid suddenly ran up to her; a boy her age with glasses- like hers- and dark hair that was styled in a bowl cut. His name was Dean.

"Lisa, there's a situation at the front door."

"What's wrong?" she asked as she adjusted her glasses.

"There are two boys with guns standing at the entrance. They say they want to talk to whoever's in charge."

Lisa's heart skipped a beat. Anyone who walks into a hospital with a gun can't possibly have good intentions.

She and Dean hurried to the front entrance of the hospital and sure enough, there were two boys standing in the lobby wielding guns. Rifles to be exact. The appeared to be M4 carbines- weapons of war.

"Can I help you?" she asked. Trying to sound as authoritative as possible.

"Yeah," said one of the boys. "We're looking for a girl named Lisa Miller."

"This is she," she said.

The boy smiled. "Great. We were sent here by a boy named David Winston who said you'd most likely be here."

Lisa was somewhat aware of a boy named David Winston who she went to school with, he was a smart boy- not as smart as her- but smart enough that he got straight A's on all his report cards. (She only knew that because he'd always brag about it)

Lisa narrowed her eyes at them. "What does he want?"

"He's about to give a speech over at the statehouse- could be giving it now for all we know. He's going to announce some plans of his. And one of those plans involves announcing someone to be in charge of medicine and treating people and stuff like that. Someone like you."

Lisa thought about it for a few seconds. It was nice that someone was trying to take charge, but at the same time Winston was just a kid, what skills could he possibly have to offer as leader.

"If he wants to play mayor, then he can, but I'm simply too busy to abandon my duties right now."

The two boys looked at each other and then at their guns.

Lisa read their minds. "Do you even know how to use those?" she asked.

They both looked at her and shook their heads. "Not really."

Lisa scoffed and held out her hands, beckoning one of them to hand his gun to her. To which one of them actually did.

Imbecile.

She studied the weapon and ejected the cartridge, there were no bullets inside of it. Then she checked the chamber and a single bullet popped out.

She asked them why there was only one bullet and they told her that Winston said that they'd only need to pop off one shot to get kids to do what they wanted.

Lisa tsked and shook her head. "Tell Winston that if he wants to talk then he can come here himself."

She handed the boy the gun back and he nodded sheepishly, as if Lisa intimidated him. Then they both left. The other boy didn't even try to threaten her with his gun. Winston had told them not to hurt anyone at the hospital, not that they would.

Lisa knew Winston wouldn't be happy to find out that she'd refused to listen to him. But she'd cross that bridge when she came to it. Right now, she just wanted to get back to work.

* * *

 _I'll try to have the next chapter up as soon as I can. I don't really know where to go from here, though. I might have to do another small timeskip.  
_


	10. Interests

**GUEST: The timeskip will be two weeks. I'm not sure if I'm using that term loosely. Also, Whether or not Lucy is pregnant will be revealed soon. (Kind of feel like I'm saying too much) And I don't see anyone going a hunt for the lions, but they will come into play later.**

 **GUEST: (This guy asked if Lincoln and Lucy's relationship was inspired by the relationship between Carl and Lydia on The Walking Dead comic) And to that the answer is: no. But I am seeing the similarities, though.**

* * *

 **Sorry this chapter took longer than usual to come out, it was mostly because personal reasons. Plus, I don't think I'll be able to pump out chapters as fast as I did at the beginning from now on.**

* * *

 **Alone**

 **Chapter 10: Interests**

 **Day 29: September 6th**

It had been two weeks since Winston's speech. Two long, boring, uneventful weeks. Meaning it had probably been four weeks since everyone had disappeared. Almost a month.

And during that month Lincoln had done nothing but hang around the hotel, eat, sleep and read comic books.

The hotel had become stuffy without air conditioning, several people left the windows to their rooms open. And while it got cooler during the night, Lincoln was glad he was on the outside of his and Lucy's cuddle position when they spooned, he hoped Lucy didn't get too uncomfortable in the warm night air. He and Lucy hadn't gotten intimate like they did a few weeks ago, part of him was wondering if they ever would again, while another part of him was kind of glad they hadn't because… uh… They had no way to clean the sheets I guess?

Okay, so that wasn't the only reason, it was minuscule compared to the main reason. Which was what if he got Lucy pregnant?

They were both just kids themselves. Plus, with no doctors around, what the heck could they do if she _did_ end up getting pregnant? Lincoln quickly pushed that thought out of his mind. They'd only done it once, but of course, it only needed to be once.

 _Come on, Lincoln. You don't see Lucy stressing out about what ifs, do you?_

Lincoln currently stood in the bathroom, peeing. At least he was before he got too busy thinking to realize he was done. He flushed the toilet and as the water spun around he began to wonder how long they'd have running water. Who knew when everyone would have to start bathing in the river, or something. And what about toilet paper? Sure, the hotel still had a decent stock and some of his friends had gone out to go get more supplies, but he knew nothing lasts forever. Sooner or later they'd probably have to start using leaves to wipe themselves and improvise with other things as well.

He walked out of the bathroom and saw Lucy sitting up on the bed.

"Good morning," he greeted with a warm smile.

Lucy nodded. "Hey."

"How'd you sleep?"

"All right," she said.

Lincoln nodded. It had been a few nights since she'd had any night terrors and he hoped it would stay that way.

"So… Can you think of anything that you might like to do today?" he asked.

Lucy shrugged. There wasn't much she was in to. Mostly because she never got the chance to get in to anything before. Lincoln tried getting her in to comic books, but she didn't really care about any of the ones he was interested in. She did, however, enjoy reading Princess Pony, which struck him as odd. But hey, why should anyone give a damn about what anyone likes anymore?

Lincoln sat down next to her. The urge to put an arm around her was strong, but he ignored it for now.

"Was there ever anything you wanted to be when you grew up?"

Lucy looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"Well, when I grew up I wanted to draw and write comic books with my friend, Clyde. But… it doesn't look like that'll be happening any time soon. Of course, that doesn't mean I can't stop enjoying those things. I figured whenever I get some free time I can go and look for some paper and art supplies, so I can continue doing what I've been dreaming about ever since I was a kid – or, I mean, younger."

Lucy shrugged. "I never had a chance to dream."

"You do, now," Lincoln proudly announced.

Lucy didn't know what to say to that. so instead, she asked Lincoln a question. "Why do you like to draw and write?"

Lincoln sat and thought about that for a few seconds.

"Well… I guess since reading comic books brings me so much joy I figured: why not try creating my own comics. My ultimate goal was to make people feel the same way I felt when reading. As well as write stories that get people into comics the same way Ace Savvy got me into superheroes."

Lucy nodded. "I wouldn't mind writing."

Lincoln perked up. "Really?

"Yeah, why not. It sounds like a good outlet if you ask me."

Lincoln smile grew wider. "That's a good idea. If you'd like we could, go look for some notebooks and stuff later."

The corners of Lucy mouth curved up slightly in a light grin, which made Lincoln happy. As he kept his gaze on Lucy for a while he began to feel his stomach tingle which made his smile drop. Lucy's did too.

Then, before they knew it, they both leaned in and kissed each other. It was just a simple kiss. A kiss that wouldn't lead anywhere and was just to confirm their feelings for each other again. When it broke, they both pressed their foreheads against each other and closed their eyes. Lincoln wanted to wrap his arms around her and hold her. To stay close to her for a long, long time.

And Lucy wanted to hold onto Lincoln and feel protected, forever and ever.

But they'd have to leave eventually.

* * *

"You can't possibly be thinking of leaving this place and going over there!" Lola shouted at her sister Lana who had just broken the news to her younger twin.

"I have to," Lana told her sister. Ever since Winston's speech Lana couldn't help but feel a sense of duty. Like she had to do something.

"No, you don't," Lola cried. "We can just stay here forever and never leave."

Lana and Lola had been taking refuge in the JW Marriott since day one. At first, they were able to keep the doors locked after a white-haired boy and his friends showed up and started acting aggressive. But then the power went out and they couldn't keep the doors electronically locked anymore. Then more kids began to show up at the hotel and the twins were powerless to do anything about it.

Then, a few days later, some more kids showed up and told them about a boy who was going to give a speech. Long story short- Lana wanted to help. She was pretty useful when it came to using tools, maybe she could be of assistance, ever since she was little she wanted to become, a plumber, or an electrician, or a mechanic. Hell, any job where you worked with your hands and used tool was fine with her.

"No, we can't," Lana said. "We're trying to rebuild society here sis, and we're not going to get anything done by hiding in here all day and night."

"Speak for yourself," Lola said.

Lana rolled her eyes. "Fine, stay here all day and hide in your room. I, for one, plan on making a difference."

"What difference can you make?" Lola said, "You're only fourteen."

"I may be young, but if you want to make a difference, it's best to get started early."

Lola stomped her foot. " _Fine._ Have fun playing pretend," she said and then stormed off to her room.

Lana felt kind of bad. But she had to go and talk to the people over at the capitol. She'd love nothing more than to get started on fixing and repairing things, maybe she could even teach other kids how to use tools and get the ball rolling for the next generation.

* * *

Lynn Starr was her name and sports were her game – or her life for that matter. She played all kinds of sports, although her favorite was football… and basketball and baseball and soccer and hockey and roller derby and – screw it, all of the sports she played were her favorite, she never limited herself to just one thing. Everyone only has one body. One life. So, she intended to live her life to the fullest. Or… that's what she planned on doing before the world changed forever.

She currently resided in Lucas Oil Stadium. (Go Colts!) She was standing on the thirty-yard line of the turf. Sleeping bags were scattered all around the field where kids would all sleep in groups. Lynn had no idea why they'd decided to make the football field their place to sleep, but she wasn't going to question them. Everyone had their reasons. Luckily Lynn arrived here early and was able to lay claim to a luxury suite where she slept at night and kept her stash of food and supplies hidden. No one dared to venture in there without her knowing lest they get beaten to a pulp. Her friend Margo was holding a football upright against the ground, so Lynn could kick it. She'd already kicked a field goal from the ten and twenty-yard line, now she was going to try the thirty and then the forty and so on.

"Ready?" Margo asked.

Lynn nodded. "Always." She then ran as fast as she could and put all her strength into her foot as she kicked the ball, launching it between the goal posts.

"YES!" Lynn cheered, pumping her fist, but not celebrating too much. "On to the forty, now."

As she and Margo walked, Lynn could feel several eyes on her, which she didn't mind of course. She loved attention after all. Before about a month ago, she hoped that one day she'd be the main focus in a stadium bigger than this. Hundreds of thousands of fans cheering her name. But for now, she was only playing in front of a few dozen. Most of whom didn't even care.

Margo held the ball at the forty.

 _All right._ Lynn told herself. _Three seconds left, down by two. Time to win the Super Bowl._

She ran up to the ball. Kicked it. Watched it fly.

 _*DOINK*_

It bounced off a goalpost

Lynn swore. And she could've sworn she heard some kids snickering from the stands.

"Don't worry about it," Margo told her. "It happens."

 _Not to me it shouldn't_ Lynn wanted to say. Instead: "Yep."

"You wanna try again?" Margo asked.

"Yes," Lynn answered, "But from square one." Meaning she wanted to go back to the ten-yard line and start all over again. She was aware that the record for longest field goal in the NFL was sixty-four yards. Meaning Lynn would keep trying until she beat that record.

When it came to Lynn Starr, failure was not an option.

* * *

It was Leni Short's first full day as a fifteen-year old. She was born September 5th but not until around eleven o'clock PM. Her friends had all wished her a happy birthday, but unfortunately there was no way for her to celebrate it. No one would be able to celebrate their birthdays ever again. To them, their birthdays were more like a curse. A date that separated them from the rest of the world.

Either they were all born too late or too soon.

But Leni didn't let that bother her. She was a very upbeat and cheerful girl. A little ditzy and slow, but she had a heart of gold and that outweighed all of her bad qualities.

She currently hung out with Lori and a few of her other friends in one of the many dimly lit clothing stores in the mall. They would often look through the racks of clothes and make it look like they were looking for something, but of course, they'd all already looked through the racks of clothes several times. It was like constantly looking in your fridge after you'd already looked in it a few times. You'd hope that by the umpteenth time you opened the door, there would be a fresh stock of food, but nope. Just the same carton of milk, eggs, half a stick of butter and almost expired salad.

Lori sighed loud and exaggeratedly. "Gosh, I'm so bored," she moaned.

Bobby looked at her and smiled. He thought about suggesting that they go someplace more _private._ They'd already done it once; two weeks ago, when they both thought they were going to disappear, but they didn't. Even so, Bobby still wanted to do _it_ again.

"I can take care of that for you," he said, with a smile. After finally getting some with Lori he felt as cocky as someone could be after losing their virginity.

Lori looked at him and opened her mouth in a fake shocked expression.

"Can you take care of it for me, too?" Leni asked, obviously having no idea what Bobby meant.

Bobby cleared his throat and looked nervously away.

"You wouldn't want that," Lori spoke up for him. "It's not as fun as it sounds."

"Hey," Bobby said, clearly hurt by Lori's words.

"I'm teasing, Boo Boo." She said.

"So, I was good?" he asked.

"Good at what?" Leni asked.

"Nothing," Lori said, "don't worry about it, just go back to looking at clothes."

Leni sighed. "But I've already looked at all these clothes, like, eleventy times. I just wish there was, like, a secret stash of them somewhere."

Across the store, a chubby kid who was eavesdropping on their conversation perked up and slowly began to make his way over.

In the meantime, Lori began to consider Bobby's offer, her boredom had finally gotten the better of her and she decided, _Why not?_

"Bobby can you come with me to the restroom?"

Bobby was about to ask why, but then he saw the expression of desire on Lori's face and knew he was about to get lucky again. "Sure thing, babe." He chirped.

Lori asked Leni if she was going to be okay by herself for a while (or for only a minute, she joked at Bobby's expense) and Leni said she would.

She watched as Lori and Bobby walked off towards the bathroom.

 _Poor Lori._ She 'd heard of people having shy bladders and not being able to pee if someone else was near, but Lori seemed to have the opposite of that since she needed Bobby to be with her when she went.

Leni continued to scan the racks… again when she felt a presence beside her, then the sound of a boy clearing his throat. She turned her head to see a boy standing next to her with a nervous expression on his face. He was chubby with dark blonde hair and freckles.

"H- hi," he croaked.

Leni smiled, "Hey."

"So… I uh… hear you're looking for some new clothes," the boy said, rubbing the back of his neck and adjusting a blue, backwards hat he was wearing.

Leni nodded. "Yeah, but I've already looked all over the place for clothes, I just can't seem to find any that interest me."

The boy smiled and rubbed one of his arms. "Well, if you're looking for some clothes, I can help."

Leni raised a brow. "How?"

"Well, first, let me introduce myself. My name's Chaz…"

Leni introduced herself, too.

"…My dad used to own this store. I have a key to the backroom where they keep a lot of the new clothes that haven't been put out yet."

Leni's eyes widened. "Really?"

Chaz nodded. "Yep. you wanna go check it out?"

Leni nodded excitedly. She cast a glance to the bathroom where Lori was and figured her friend wouldn't mind if she snuck off for a few minutes.

Chaz led Leni to a locked door that led to a backroom and opened it. It was dark, but Chaz brought a lantern, he flipped a switch and the bright LED light filled the room.

Leni gasped. There were several boxes stacked on top of each other. She was surprised that the room could fit so many boxes in it.

"Yeah," Chaz said. "We'd got a new delivery the day before… Well… you know."

Leni turned to him.

"You're welcome to look in them," he told her.

And Leni went through them to her heart's content. Going through piles of clothes, holding them all up, studying them. She'd even made a few piles. A pile for clothes she _really_ wanted, one for clothes she probably wanted, and one for clothes she didn't want.

Chaz smiled as he watched Leni prance around like a kid on Christmas. Before the world changed, he'd always liked Leni. He'd see her visit the store often and had been trying his best to work up the courage to go talk to her. But the problem was: she was a ten and he was at best, a four. She was an angel, and he was just some overweight kid.

"Thank you so much, Chaz," Leni said, and she went over to him and hugged him.

Chaz was caught off guard. No girl had ever hugged him before- besides his mom. His face felt hot and his groin began to stir. He was about to lift his arms and hug Leni back when he heard another voice.

"There you are, Leni."

Leni stepped away from Chaz and they both looked to see Lori standing in the doorway with Bobby standing right behind her.

"What are you doing?" she asked, with her hands on her hips. She looked like a mom about to scold her kid.

Leni smiled at Lori. "I was just hanging with Chaz." She told him how this store was his dads and he had access to all these clothes.

Lori looked around, she had to admit the stock was impressive.

"Well, you really had me worried when I came out of the bathroom and you weren't there."

"Sorry," Leni said.

Lori sighed. "Let's just head back, now."

"But I'm not done looking," she protested, and she gave Lori the look of a sad puppy which made the girl sigh again.

"You're welcome to take whatever you want, too," Chaz offered. Which made Lori perk up a bit.

"Well… since you offered.

* * *

Meanwhile, a fifteen-year-old boy named Chuck and his two friends Reggie and Mitch walked into the store.

Chuck was pretty much the leader of his little gang. He was a good-looking kid with dark black hair, blue eyes and strong facial features. His two other friends were no where near as good looking as he was. He mostly kept them around just to make him look even better than he already was by comparison.

"So, you're saying you saw Leni come in here?" he asked them.

"Yep," Reggie nodded.

Chuck looked around. "Well where is she, then?" he asked impatiently.

"There," Reggie said and pointed towards a door at the back of the store.

And that's when Chuck saw her, the object of his affection: Leni Short. The most beautiful girl in the world and she belonged to the best-looking dude in the world- him.

She was carrying a load of clothes and walking with her bitchy friend Lori and her boyfriend, as well as some random fat kid. Chuck noticed that the fat kid and Leni were smiling and talking to each other. He noted that Leni appeared to be a little too friendly towards the kid. He assumed she was just being nice. No way she would go for a dude like _that._

There were some very unattractive girls that always seemed to have crushes on Chuck and he was never friendly to them when they talked to him. No way was he ever going to lead on any ugly chicks and have them follow him around like this fat fuck was with Leni.

That's when Chuck decided to make his move. He strode up to Leni with the confidence of a dude who was about to fuck some woman in a porno and spoke up.

"Hey, Leni." He said coolly.

All four of the teens stopped and looked at Chuck. Lori and Bobby looked at him with disgust- they knew who Chuck was. The fat kid looked nervous. But Leni, on the other hand, smiled her kind, sexy smile.

"Hi, Chuck," she chirped. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Chuck said. "I just heard you recently had a birthday. I would've gotten you something, but I couldn't think of anything that would be perfect enough for a perfect girl like you."

Leni blushed. "Aw, that's okay."

"Not for me it isn't," he said. "So, I was thinking maybe later, me and you could go for a walk around the mall and maybe look for a present for you."

Leni seemed to be considering, but then Lori spoke up.

"She has everything she needs, thank you very much."

 _Bitch, I wasn't asking you!_ Chuck wanted to yell. Instead he just gave her an annoyed look and then looked back at Leni who still seemed to be pondering his offer.

Lori placed a hand on her shoulder before she could answer, she knew that Chuck was just going to end up using Leni and then leave her after he got what he wanted. "Come on, Leni."

"Oh. Okay," she said and then looked at Chuck. "Sorry, I gotta go."

"Okay," was all Chuck said, even though he was fuming on the inside. _That bitch, Lori ruined everything._

"Chaz, you want to come with back to our hangout?" Leni asked.

Chaz stiffened. "Me?"

"Yeah, you," she giggled. Which was the sweetest sound Chaz had ever heard.

"Okay," he said. And with that, they all left the store.

Leaving Chuck and his snickering friends behind.

Chuck's teeth and fists were clenched. Did Leni seriously invite that fat kid back to where she lived and not _him_? Normally he was the person who invited people over to his place in front of others, it was never the other way around.

"Wow, Chuck. Looks like you got rejected," Reggie said.

Chuck turned around and hit his friend in the arm.

"Ow, Hey!" Reggie cried.

His other friend, Mitch, stopped laughing.

"Shut up!" Chuck said. "No one rejects me! I'm going to end up having sex with Leni whether she wants to or not." He stomped out of the store thinking of how he was going to get Leni to fuck him and his friends reluctantly followed.

* * *

 _I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, because I'm going to take a break from this story and focus on a story involving Luan. It's going to be a pretty long story that I will post as one chapter, but I'll try to have it up as soon as I can._

 _Also I just created a Discord account (I don't know the basics of it, yet. I also don't know if it will be a permanent thing) so you can befriend me on there, too. My username is: NiceGodzilla (message me for more details)  
_


End file.
